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Mandarin Chinese · HSK 3.0 Band 2 · Chapter 22

今天比昨天冷 Today's colder than yesterday

Jīntiān bǐ zuótiān lěng

Ma Shan, Wang Yue, and Bai Wen at the park discussing the weather. Learn: 冷 / 天气 / 风 / 雨 / 雪 / 阴 / 晴 + 下雨 (rain) / 下雪 (snow). Reactivates the noun-as-predicate sentence pattern (二48) from ch2 with weather examples.

今天有风 — It's windy today

  1. 马山 wángyuè! zǎoshànghǎo. jīntiānzuótiānlěng, 穿chuānduōma? Wang Yue! Morning. Colder today than yesterday — are you bundled up?
  2. 王月 穿chuānlesānjiàn. jīntiānyǒufēng, lěnghěn. Three layers. It's windy, really cold.
  3. 马山 běijīngdōngtiānjiùzhèyàng. kàn, tiānyīn. Beijing winter is like this. Look, the sky's overcast too.
  4. 王月 xià. Maybe it'll rain.
  5. 马山 xià. dōngtiānde, jiùshìxuěle. Not rain. Winter rain becomes snow.

在你家也下雪吗? — Does it snow where you live too?

  1. 白文 shān, wángyuè! zǎo. jīntiāndetiānzhēnbié. Ma Shan, Wang Yue! Morning. The weather's so unusual today.
  2. 王月 shì. yīnyīnde. huìxiàxuě. Yeah. Overcast. Might snow.
  3. 白文 zàijiā, zhègejiéchángxiàxuě. Where I'm from, it snows a lot this season.
  4. 马山 běijīnghuìxià, dànshìtàiduō. míngtiānhǎoxiàngqíng, menchūzǒuzǒuba. Beijing too, but not much. Tomorrow looks clear — let's go out for a walk.
  5. 白文 hǎo. qíngtiānzuìshūle. Yes. Clear days are the best.

越来越冷 — It's getting colder and colder

  1. 马山 zhèxīng, tiānyuèláiyuèlěng. This week, the weather's getting colder and colder.
  2. 王月 shìde. dōngtiānláile. Yes. Winter's here.
  3. 白文 huandōngtiān. tài, tài湿shī. I like winter. Not too hot, not too humid.
  4. 马山 dōngtiānhǎo. mengèngyàozhùshēn. Winter is good. We have to take extra care of our body.
  5. 王月 biéwàngleduōshuǐ! Don't forget to drink lots of hot water!
汉字PinyinTừ loạiNghĩa
lěng adj. cold (weather; pair with 热)
天气 tiānqì n. weather
昨天 zuótiān n. yesterday (Level 1 revisit; temporal anchor)
明天 míngtiān n. tomorrow (Level 1 revisit)
fēng n. wind
n. rain (Level 1 revisit)
下雨 xià yǔ v. (it) rains; rain (V+N)
xuě n. snow
下雪 xià xuě v. (it) snows
yīn adj. overcast (sky)
qíng adj. clear (sky); sunny
汉字PinyinTừ loạiNghĩa
穿 chuān wear; pierce
jiàn item; piece (in 信息) 邮件 yóujiàn — email; mail
dōng winter
yīn overcast; yīn (TCM)
xuě snow 下雪 xià xuě — (it) snows林雪 Lín Xuě — Lin Xue (persona — 26, travel blogger)
(in 季节 = season) 季节 jìjié — season
qíng clear (sky); sunny
湿 shī wet; humid

lěng cold (weather) Viết

7 strokes left-right radical 冫

Phono-semantic compound: 冫 (ice radical, the 2-dot variant of water — introduced ch5 with 凉) + 令 (lìng, phonetic). Pairs with 凉 (cool) — both 冫-radical, but 冷 is "cold" (sharper) while 凉 is "cool" (gentler).

fēng wind (Level 1 revisit) Viết

4 strokes enclosure

rain (Level 1 revisit) Viết

8 strokes enclosure

xuě snow Viết

11 strokes top-bottom radical 雨

Compound: 雨 (rain) on top + 彐 (originally a broom — for sweeping snow) on bottom. Modern: snow. The 雨 radical joins 雪 to the weather-precipitation cluster.

yīn overcast; yīn (TCM) Nhận biết

6 strokes left-right radical 阝

qíng clear (sky); sunny Nhận biết

12 strokes left-right radical 日

air; energy (Level 1 revisit; in 天气) Nhận biết

4 strokes standalone

zuó yesterday (Level 1 revisit) Nhận biết

9 strokes left-right radical 日

míng tomorrow; bright (Level 1 revisit) Nhận biết

8 strokes left-right radical 日

天气句 — 名词谓语句 (revisit) Weather sentences — noun-as-predicate revisited

Ch2 学了"我头疼"——这种"主语 + 名词 / 形容词"的结构. 天气句是它的延伸. 句式: "时间 (+地点) + 天气描述", 不要加"是". 例: 今天很冷 (correct) vs *今天是很冷 (wrong). 今天天气很冷, 也没有"是". 形容词单独可以做谓语: 今天冷 / 今天阴 / 今天晴. 也可以"今天天气阴"——名词作谓语. 重要: 比较句"A 比 B + adj"也是这个家族 (Bk1 ch5 学过): 今天比昨天冷. 在天气场景, 这两类句式经常一起用.

Ch2 introduced the noun-as-predicate pattern (我头疼). Weather sentences are its natural extension. Pattern: 时间 (+ 地点) + weather description — no 是 (be). 今天很冷 ('today is cold') vs *今天是很冷 (wrong). 今天天气很冷 ('today the weather is cold') — also no 是. Adjectives stand alone as predicates: 今天冷 / 今天阴 / 今天晴. Or use noun-as-predicate: 今天天气阴 ('today the weather is overcast'). IMPORTANT: comparison sentences (Bk1 ch5: A 比 B + adj) belong to this family — 今天比昨天冷. In weather contexts the two patterns intertwine constantly.

  • 今天比昨天冷. Jīntiān bǐ zuótiān lěng. Today is colder than yesterday.
  • 北京的冬天很冷. Běijīng de dōngtiān hěn lěng. Beijing's winter is very cold.
  • 今天阴, 也许下雨. Jīntiān yīn, yěxǔ xià yǔ. Today is overcast — maybe it'll rain.
  • 明天天气好吗? Míngtiān tiānqì hǎo ma? Will the weather be nice tomorrow?

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