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Mandarin Chinese · HSK 3.0 Band 2 · Chapter 32

你的工作累不累 Is your job tiring?

Nǐ de gōngzuò lèi bu lèi

Xie Ping meets Fang Hong, talking about work. Vocab: 难 (hard) / 简单 (simple) / 复杂 (complex) / 加班 (overtime) / 办公室 (office) / 周末 (weekend). Introduces Xie Ping (software engineer). Phrase-type meta-lesson.

你的工作累不累 — Is your job tiring?

  1. 黄安 xièpíng, zhèshìfānghóng. xiàyuèkāishǐshàngbān. Xie Ping, this is Fang Hong. She starts work next month.
  2. 谢平 fānghóng, hǎo. degōngzuòlèibulèi? Fang Hong, hi. Is your job tiring?
  3. 方红 háiméikāishǐ. xièpíngne? lèibulèi? Haven't started yet. You? Tiring?
  4. 谢平 tàilèile. chángchángzhōuyàojiābān. Way too tired. I often work overtime on weekends.
  5. 方红 zhōujiābān? zhēndema? Even on weekends? Really?
  6. 谢平 shìde. guòhuanzuòzhègegōngzuò. Yes. But I like doing this job.

难不难 — Hard or not?

  1. 方红 xièpíng, degōngzuònánbunán? Xie Ping, is your work hard?
  2. 谢平 yǒudejiǎndān, yǒude. shìhěn, xiǎoshìjiǎndān. Some simple, some complex. Big issues are complex; small ones are simple.
  3. 方红 zàibàngōngshìgōngzuòháishìzàijiā? Do you work in the office or at home?
  4. 谢平 dōuyǒu. zhōudàozhōuzàibàngōngshì. zhōuyǒudeshíhòuzàijiā. Both. Monday to Friday in the office. Some weekends from home.
  5. 方红 huanbàngōngshì. zàijiātàinénggōngzuò. I prefer the office. Can't really work from home.
  6. 谢平 shìde. gēntóngshìgènghǎo. Yes. Better with colleagues.

明天的安排 — Tomorrow's plan

  1. 黄安 xièpíng, míngtiānmángbumáng? Xie Ping, time tomorrow?
  2. 谢平 shànghěnmáng. xià. Busy morning. Afternoon's fine.
  3. 黄安 mensānrénshuōyishuō? Want the three of us to talk?
  4. 方红 hǎo. xiàmáng. Sure. I'm free in the afternoon.
  5. 谢平 xiàliǎngdiǎnjiàn. hǎobuhǎo? Then 2pm. OK?
  6. 方红 hǎo. xièxièmen. OK. Thanks both.
汉字PinyinTừ loạiNghĩa
累不累 lèi bu lèi exp. tired or not? — V不V question
nán adj. hard; difficult
简单 jiǎndān adj. simple
复杂 fùzá adj. complex
加班 jiā bān v. work overtime (separable)
办公室 bàngōngshì n. office
tóng adj. same (in 同事 / 同时)
周末 zhōumò n. weekend
谢平 Xiè Píng pn. Xie Ping (persona — 31, software engineer)
汉字PinyinTừ loạiNghĩa
end (in 周末) 周末 zhōumò — weekend
jiǎn simple (in 简单) 简单 jiǎndān — simple简历 jiǎnlì — résumé; CV
dān (in 简单 = simple) 简单 jiǎndān — simple菜单 càidān — menu账单 zhàngdān — bill; check
complex; repeat (in 复杂) 复杂 fùzá — complex复习 fùxí — review (recall Bk2)
mixed; complex (in 复杂) 复杂 fùzá — complex
bàn (in 办公室 = office) 办公室 bàngōngshì — office
shì room (in 办公室 / 教室) 办公室 bàngōngshì — office教室 jiàoshì — classroom (recall Bk2)
pái arrange; row (in 安排) 安排 ānpái — arrange排队 páiduì — queue up; stand in line

nán hard; difficult Viết

10 strokes left-right

Modern: "hard, difficult." Pairs with 容易 (easy). Anchors 难不难 V不V questions and 困难 (difficulty, ch8).

jiǎn simple (in 简单) Viết

13 strokes top-bottom radical ⺮

Phono-semantic compound: 竹 (bamboo, top form — same as 等 in Bk2 ch12) + 间 (jiān, phonetic). Original sense: "bamboo strips for writing — pared down." Modern: "simple, brief." Anchors 简单 (simple).

end (in 周末) Viết

5 strokes standalone

Compound: 木 (tree) + a horizontal line at the TOP. Original sense: "the tip of a tree = end / extremity." Modern: "end / tail" — anchors 周末 (weekend), 月末 (end of month). Compare with 本 (root, with horizontal at the BOTTOM).

complex; repeat (in 复杂) Viết

9 strokes top-bottom

Modern: "repeat / complex / restore." Simplified from traditional 複 / 復. Anchors 复杂 (complex, this chapter), 复习 (review — Level 2 vocab elsewhere).

róng contain; allow (in 容易) Nhận biết

10 strokes top-bottom

mixed; complex (in 复杂) Nhận biết

6 strokes top-bottom radical 木

jiā add (in 加班) Nhận biết

5 strokes left-right radical 力

gōng public; fair (in 公司 / 办公室) Nhận biết

4 strokes top-bottom

shì room (in 办公室 / 教室) Nhận biết

9 strokes top-bottom radical 宀

短语类型 — 基本结构 Phrase-type fundamentals

中文句子由"短语"组成. 一个短语是一组词在一起表达一个意思. 几个常见类型: (1) 名词性短语: 中心是名词, 例 "我的工作 / 公司的同事 / 那本书". (2) 动词性短语: 中心是动词, 例 "去公园 / 看书 / 写报告". (3) 形容词性短语: 中心是形容词, 例 "很累 / 太忙 / 不太好". 学习中文不是记每个字, 而是看"短语怎么组合". 比如"工作累不累" = 名词性短语 (我的工作) + V不V 形容词性短语 (累不累).

Chinese sentences are built from 'phrases.' A phrase is a group of words that together express a single idea. Three common types: (1) Noun phrase: headed by a noun — 我的工作 (my work), 公司的同事 (my company's colleagues), 那本书 (that book). (2) Verb phrase: headed by a verb — 去公园 (go to the park), 看书 (read), 写报告 (write a report). (3) Adjective phrase: headed by an adjective — 很累 (very tired), 太忙 (too busy), 不太好 (not very good). Learning Chinese isn't memorizing each character — it's seeing how phrases combine. For example, 你的工作累不累 = noun phrase (你的工作) + adjective V不V phrase (累不累).

  • 你的工作累不累? Nǐ de gōngzuò lèi bu lèi? Is your job tiring? (NP + V不V adjective phrase)
  • 我们公司的同事 (都) 很好. Wǒmen gōngsī de tóngshì (dōu) hěn hǎo. Our company's colleagues are great. (NP + adverb + adj phrase)
  • 我下个月去开会. Wǒ xià ge yuè qù kāihuì. I'll attend a meeting next month. (NP + temporal + V phrase)
  • 这个工作不太复杂. Zhège gōngzuò bú tài fùzá. This job is not too complex. (NP + adjective phrase)

V不V 句的节奏 — 不-sandhi 重温 V不V cadence — 不-sandhi revisit

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