Listen and download Lesson 11 of Basic Spoken Chinese
Basic Spoken Chinese – Lesson 11: 来 lái, “to come”
Literally: “to come”.
Usage: Used to attract the attention of the other person; in Chinese culture, directly saying “come” to someone is not considered rude but warm and considerate of others.
Examples:
1) 来来来，吃饭。
Lái lái lái, chīfàn.
Come, eat.
2) 来，我给你讲个故事。
Lái, wǒ gěi nǐ jiǎng gè gùshi.
Come, I’ll tell you a story.
3) 来，多吃点饭。
Lái, duō chī diǎn fàn.
Come, have some more rice.
New words:
来 lái (v.): to come (opposite: 去 qù “to go”) e.g. 客人来了 kèrén láile (“the guests are here”), 我一会儿就来 wǒ yīhuìr jiù lái (“I’ll come in a moment”), 他已经来了 tā yǐjīng lái le (“he has already come”), etc.
给 gěi (v.): to give e.g. 把钥匙给我 bǎ yàoshi gěi wǒ (“give me the key”), 给我看看 gěi wǒ kànkan (“let me have a look”)
讲 jiǎng (v.): to speak; to talk (similar in meaning to 说 shuō “to say; to speak”) e.g. 我跟你讲 wǒ gēn nǐ jiǎng (“let me tell you”), 他不会讲法语 tā bù huì jiǎng Fǎyǔ (“he cannot speak French”), 他不会讲道理 tā bù huì jiǎng dàolǐ (“he can’t talk reason”), etc.
故事 gùshi (n.): story; tale; narrative e.g. 这个故事很动人 zhège gùshi hěn dòngrén (“this story is very moving”), 这是一个很悲伤的故事 zhè shì yī gè hěn bēishāng de gùshi (“this is a sad story”), etc.
Did you know?
Let’s review some common verbs in Chinese that express movement. You should know “come” and “go” already – that’s 来 lái and 去 qù respectively. But how would you say “he comes from Australia”? That would be 他来自澳大利亚 tā láizì Àodàlìyà. Now imagine you are waiting for some friends to come to your home. Suddenly, you hear them arrive at your front door. How would you say “they’re here” in Chinese? You would say 他们到了 tāmen dào le. So 到 dào is an important verb, meaning “to arrive (at a destination); to get to (a place)”. Now imagine you want to suggest to your friends that you go out with them and leave the house. What would you say? You would say 走吧 zǒu ba (“let’s go”). Don’t forget that 走 zǒu can mean both “to go on foot; to walk” and “to leave; to go away” depending on the context.
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