Listen and download Lesson 9 of Basic Spoken Chinese
Basic Spoken Chinese – Lesson 9: 休息 xiūxi, “to rest”
Literally: “to rest”.
Meaning: “To rest; to take a break”. Can also infer “to sleep” or “to take break from work; to go on holiday” depending on the context.
Examples:
1) 今天忙了一天，大家辛苦了。赶紧回家休息吧！
Jīntiān mángle yītiān, dàjiā xīnkǔ le. Gǎnjǐn huíjiā xiūxi ba!
It’s been a busy day – everyone has worked so hard. Hurry back home and have a good rest!
2) 你早点休息。
Nǐ zǎodiǎn xiūxi.
You better get to bed early.
3) 我明天不上班，可以休息。
Wǒ míngtiān bù shàngbān, kěyǐ xiūxi.
I don’t have to work tomorrow. I can take a rest.
New words:
休息 xiūxi: to rest; to take a break (can also infer “to sleep” or “to take break from work; to go on holiday” depending on the context.) 你工作太勤奋了，休息一会儿吧 nǐ gōngzuò tài qínfèn le, xiūxi yīhuìr ba (“you work too hard – take a break for a while”)
忙 máng: 1. (v.) to be busy 我最近忙着考试 wǒ zuìjìn máng zhe kǎoshì (“I’ve been busy with exams as of late”) 2. (adj.) busy 你最近忙吗？ nǐ zuìjìn máng ma? (“have you been busy lately?”) 3. (n.) favour (when used with 帮 bāng) 你能不能帮我一个忙？ nǐ néng bù néng bāng wǒ yī ge máng? (“can you do me a favor?”)
一 yī (num.): one e.g. 一二三四五六七八九十 yī èr sān sì wǔ liù qī bā jiǔ shí (“one two three four five six seven eight nine ten”)
天 tiān (n.): 1. sky; heavens e.g. 天黑了 tiān hēi le (“it’s getting dark”) 2. day e.g. 今天jīntiān (“today”), 明天 míngtiān (“tomorrow”), 三天 sān tiān (“three days”)
大家 dàjiā (n.): everyone; everybody; all of us 我不会让大家失望的 wǒ bù huì ràng dàjiā shīwàng de (“I won’t let everybody down”)
辛苦 xīnkǔ:
1. (adj.) laborious; hard; miserable; exhausting 他的工作很辛苦 tā de gōngzuò hěn xīnkǔ (“his job is exhausting”)
2. (v.) to work hard; to toil; to go through hardship 妈妈辛苦一辈子 māma xīnkǔ yībèizi (“mum has worked hard her whole life”)
3. (interj.) (polite expression when in thanking someone for assistance given; can be used for general assistance over time or a specific act; usually followed by 了 le) 辛苦了！ xīnkǔ le! (lit. “[you’ve] worked hard” i.e. “thanks for your trouble”)
赶紧 gǎnjǐn (adv.): quickly; hurriedly; without delay e.g. 他们赶紧去帮他 tāmen gǎnjǐn qù bāng tā (“they hurried to help him”)
回家 huíjiā (v.): to go home e.g. 带我回家 dài wǒ huíjiā (“take me home”), 我们都等你回家 wǒmen dōu děng nǐ huíjiā (“we are all waiting for you to come home”), 请把他的行李拿回家 qǐng bǎ tā de xínglǐ ná huíjiā (“please take his luggage back home”), etc.
早点 zǎodiǎn: 1. (adv.): earlier; faster; more quickly e.g. 我想早点申请比较好 wǒ xiǎng zǎodiǎn shēnqǐng bǐjiào hǎo (“I think it would be better to submit the application earlier”) 2. (n.) light breakfast e.g. 早上吃什么早点比较好？ zǎoshang chī shénme zǎodiǎn bǐjiào hǎo (“what kind of light breakfast would be best?”)
明天 míngtiān (n.): tomorrow e.g. 你明天有安排吗？ nǐ míngtiān yǒu ānpái ma (“are you doing anything tomorrow?”), 我明天要去游泳 wǒ míngtiān yào qù yóuyǒng (“I am going swimming tomorrow”), etc.
上班 shàngbān (v.): to be on duty; to go to work; to begin one’s work day; to begin one’s shift e.g. 我每天坐地铁去上班 wǒ měitiān zuò dìtiě qù shàngbān (“I take the subway to work every day”), 我下午不上班 wǒ xiàwǔ bù shàngbān (“I’m not working this afternoon”), etc.
Did you know?
Let’s recap on tone sandhi – that is, tone changes – in Mandarin. When a third tone is followed by a third tone, it becomes a second tone. For example, 你好 nǐ hǎo (“hello”; read as ní hǎo). When the word for “one” – 一 yī – is followed by a fourth tone, it becomes a second tone. For example, 一个 yī gè (“one” read as yí gè). When 一 yī is followed by a first, second or third tone, it becomes a fourth tone. For example, 一般 yībān (“normally”; read as yìbān), 一直 yīzhí (“continuously”; read as yìzhí), 一起 yīqǐ (“together”; read as yìqǐ), etc. When the character for “not” – 不 bù – is followed by a fourth tone, it becomes a second tone. For example, 不是 bù shì (“is not”; read as bú shì), 不会 bù huì (“will not, cannot”; read as bú huì), 不错 bù cuò (“not bad”; read as bú cuò), etc.
Credit: I’ve taken these examples of tone sandhi from this blog post: Mandarin tone change rules (tone sandhi) by Hugh Grigg which provides an excellent summary of the common rules. Well worth a read.
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