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M. Chu, 1
Dshk Guw
Lesson Ten: Shopping
In this lesson, we learn about shopping and gift giving. We
familiarize ourselves with the type of stores and merchandizes and
with the matter of price mark down and bargin. We will discuss
different types of shopping, buying things for daily use or for
special occasions, for our own use or as presents.
Zhnbi: Getting Ready 1. What are the things you most often buy
and where do you go to buy them?
2. What are the most common gifts you give and/or receive?
3. What do you think are the most interesting and most
challenging things about shopping?
Xd mbio: Learning objectives After participation in the
activities of this lesson, the learner should be able to
Accurately identify the common types of commodity goods and the
types of stores to find them
Discuss events concerning buying, selling, and gift giving
Inquire about local shopping malls and stores, and respond to
such inquiries
Properly, fluently, and accurately understand, speak, and write
through recall the following characters and
grammatical structures:
Hnz: Characters ! +
! +
! +
! +
! +
! +
Wnf: Grammar " The functions of
" The functions of
# (The + items are simplified characters and variants)
Jxng: Sentence Patterns
[30a] A B something ([for B] to do this). (to give B)
[30b] A does x B (to do this [to x]). (for B)
[30c] A B to do this. (for [the benefit of] B)
[31a] A [] B this gift. (to give B)
[31b] A this gift B.
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M. Chu, 2
. Kchng zhngdin: Main Text
I. Shngpn: Merchandise
Tng-Shu: Listening & Speaking
1. Midngxi: Buying things; shopping
If you are on your way to go shopping, someone who does not know
your plan may ask you: Q1:
N q nr (Where are you going?)
Q2:
N q zu shnme? (What are you going there for?)
Your answer to either of these questions may be: A:
W q mi dngxi. (Ill go buy something.)
(Im going shopping.)
Note: We learned that we should answer questions specifically
according to what was asked. However, we are gradually learning
that grasping the essense of a question could help us provide a
more specific answer. In this case, the general purpose of going
shopping is more specific than the places one goes, thus the
answer. And, this is quite similar to the situation in English.
If you are on your way to go shopping, and someone has guessed
that is probably what you are doing, s/he still can ask you a
question to confirm his/her guess as a way of greeting by showing
their interest in knowing about your activities.
Q:
Q mi dngx ma Going shopping, right?
A1:
Shde, q mi dngxi.
Yes, going shopping.
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M. Chu, 3
A2:
Shde, q mi dinr dngxi. Yes, going to buy a little something.
[*As we know, diminishing the significance of the things you do
is one way to show politeness.]
A3: Sh a! Q mi jbn sh h ydinr shugu. Exactly! Going to buy a few
books and some fruit.
[*To provide the inquirer with some details of your activity is
a way to show your sincerety.]
din Dot; point; a little
ydinr A little; a bit
To go shopping is to go look for something one plans to buy.
Most of the things we use, such as school supplies, food and
clothes, we probably acquire them by buying. Grammatically, a
Chinese verb-of-action is generally specified by an object. We have
learned that the Chinese equivalent for the English expression to
write may be , or something rather than just . Similarly, the
Chinese equivalent for to drink may be , or something rather than
just . Therefore, to buy or to shopping may be referring to:
mi sh buy books
mi shuj buy a cellphone
Yes, if you have something specific in mind, you may name that.
When the shopping list is too teditious or inconvenient to name,
people would say: mi dngxi buy things; shopping
Therefore, this is like what we say, go shopping in English.
There is also a general term to use for grocery shopping: mi ci buy
vegetables; shop for groceries
It is interesting to note that is not a Chinese expression.
Grocery shopping may include buying riceuncooked rice mi m buy
(uncooked) rice
To buy ready-to-eat food, there are three general ways to do
(and say): q fngun chfn go to a restaurant to eat
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M. Chu, 4
jio wimi call for delivery; order take-out; order to-go; get
carry-out
mi shsh buy prepared food; buy cooked food The words for food
include these: shw food; edibles
shpn food; foodstuff
ch de dngxi food; things to eat
It is also interesting to note that while mi kfi (to buy coffee)
is a common enough, most native speakers of Chinese are not used to
the expression mi ch (to buy tea). People may either mi chy (buy
tea leaves) to brew their own tea, q chgun hch (go to a tea house
to drink tea) or q kfigun hch (go to a coffee shop to drink tea).
And, the expression q kfigun mi ybi ch (to purchase a cup of tea at
a coffee shop) is generally acceptable. When it comes to food and
drink, the Chinese conventions hold a strong position in judging
linguistic appropriateness.
2. shngpn: merchandise We may shop for school supplies and
stationaries such as , etc. The generic term for them is: wnj
stationary
There are many other things we also buy from time to time, such
as: wnj toy
fzhung clothing; clothes
yf clothes
ryngpn articles for daily use; common household goods; daily
supplies
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M. Chu, 5
tnggu sweets; candy
hur flower
N q mi shnme dngxi? What are you going to buy?
(1)
W q mi lingjin yf.
Im going to buy a couple of clothes. [Note: is a measure word
for clothes in general and for upper-body clothes
particularly.]
(2)
W q mi tnggu h hur.
Im going to buy some sweets and flower.
(3) W q mi yxi ryngpn.
I went/will go to buy some household daily supplies.
yxi some; a few; a little
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M. Chu, 6
D-Xi: Reading and Writing Note: jigwn: Oracal-bone Script, 17th
to 11th Centuries BCE
jnwn: Bronze-carving Script, 11th to 3rd Century BCE dzhun:
Majuscule Seal script, 8th-3rd Century BCE xiozhun: Refined Seal
Script, 3rd Century BCE to 1st Century CE
1.
1) bi: cowry; shell; (family name) () () () ()
http://www.scandfish.com/gfx/clpost_seashells_large.jpg
The ancient forms are clearly pictures of cowries. Cowries were
used in ancient China as currency at least during the Shang Dynasty
(16th-11th Century BCE), which coincides with the period when was
used. This may have been used all the way until the Qin Dynasty
(221-207 BCE), especially if including imitation cowry-shaped coins
with man-made materials. Therefore, the character also contributes
the meaning of value, precious, or treasure either in a
word-combination such as (treasure, darling) or as a component of a
character such as (*Remember this one?), (wealth) and many other
ones we are learning in this lesson. The above is an image of cowry
that has some resemblance to the picture. Have you heard the name
of the MIT educated Chinese-American architect, I. M. Pei (1917-)?
He designed, among other architectural landmarks, the Kennedy
Library, National Gallery East Building, Le Grand Louvre Pyramid,
and the Bank of China buildings. His name in Chinese is and it is
pronounced, starting with the family name, as Bi Ymng. bigu bagel
[*This is a sound transcription of
the English word]
2) bo: treasure
What was your first impression of the characterthe traditional
and simplified forms?
Do you recall the meaning of the characters top component
The character consists of four components. We are familiar with
the characters top component , as seen in , , , etc., right? We
have just learned the character , which is the bottom component of
, and this additional component below:
fu: jar; container
() () () () These forms picture a jar with a lid. The image on
the right, found on www.findart.com.cn, is a bronze , claimed to be
from Pre-Qin period (before 3rd Century BCE).
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M. Chu, 7
Now, lets get back to the character .
() () () () In the form, we see (cowry/money) and (jade) under a
roof. In the form, we see not only and but also two additional
items, one of which is , and the other is a more illustrative
drawing of a jar or some other type of container. Here we have it,
a collection of treasures under the roof (or, in the house). By the
time of the after the Qin (221-207 BCE) unification of written
script, the structure of the strokes in the character became very
similar to its current appearance where the components of the
character are still clearly identifiable.
bobao baby
bobi treasured object; baby; darling
boy precious jade
bbo fn eight treasures steamed rice pudding
bo m the Chinese word for BMW car [literally: treasure
horse]
wnfng sbo the Four Treasures of a Scholars Studio;
stationary
The Four Treasures of a Scholars Studio, which is also commonly
used now to refer to the supplies for calligraphy writing, are (b m
zh yn: writing brush, ink stick, paper, and ink-stone)
3) mi: buy
()
()
()
()
The character is generally understood as a (huy) character, or
associative compounds. The ancient graphs combine two components,
(shellcurrency) and (net; basket). It is understandable that the
meaning of the charcter is likely related to a commercial activity
involving currency. However, the logic behind the creation of the
new meaning buy by combining the two components is not quite clear.
We may consider the possiblity that the two components are those
one need to carry when going to buy something: the money to be used
to pay for the purchase and the container to be used to carry what
has been purchased. That takes us to meet a very efficient
conventional Chinese carrier, the wngdi, which is still used by
many in China. Another thing to keep in mind is when you go to a
supermarket or a store in China, you may be asked to pay for the
container. So carrying an easily crushable wngdi in your handbag or
pocket may not be a bad idea. It saves you a few pennies and, more
importantly, it contributes to save our environment.
4) mi: sell
()
()
()
The ancient graphs do not include those from the earliest stage,
the . In the script, the graphs include the component plus what
seems to be a big-eyed person with a hat. It does not seem to be
directly related to the graphs for prior to the script. The script
of include a component
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M. Chu, 8
(out), which is written as in the current traditional, standard
form. Again, we can understand that the meaning of the character is
related to money and trade but not clear about the logic of how the
meaning was derived through the joining together of the
components.
Buying and selling using money tokens might mark an advanced
commercial behavior developed from earlier trading practices of
(ywyw: barter system; exchange of goods; exchange with what you
have extra for what you need or want to have). is to acquire goods
with money token, represented here by ancient currency of cowry or
shells. is to receive money and let go of goods.
mi dngxi shopping; buy things
mi-mi buying and selling; business transaction
zu mimi do business
mifng buyer
mifng seller
W xing mi wnfng sbo, qngwn nr yu? I would like to buy some
wenfang sibao, could you tell me if you have them?
Dubuq, wmen bmi wnfng sbo. My apologies, we do not sell wenfang
sibao.
2.
5) y: clothes
The picture on the left depicts a pre-modern casual top. This
drawing cooresponds to the ancient graphs of the character for
clothes.
() () () () The character is also used as a component in many
clothes-related characters. It takes different forms in these
characters. For example, it may appear as (1) on the left side
(e.g. ), in its independent character form; as (2) at the bottom of
the character (e.g. ); or as split top and bottom (3) & (e.g.:
zhng, gu). In some rare cases, it may appear in somewhat distorted
form or appear at the top of a character.
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M. Chu, 9
dy Overcoat
moy Sweater
yji Clothes hanger; clothes rack
6) f: clothes; serve; obey
() () () () The graph indicates a hand over a kneeing person.
This illustrates the basic meaning of the character, subdue. In
later graphs, a boat or an eye (third above) component was added,
may be indicating some kind of forced laborin a boat under
surveillance. (fy) still means enlist in the army or undergo forced
labor in modern Mandarin. was used to refer to the uniform worn by
those who were enlisted to serve in the army or levy labor, before
being used for the meaning of uniform or clothes in general. The
boat (or eye) component appears as in current standard form.
yf clothing, clothes
Tde yf hndu. T yu dy, yu moy, y yu hndu qtde yf. Her clothes are
many. She has overcoats, sweaters, and she has many other
clothes.
T tintin chun btngde yf li shngk. Everyday, she wears different
clothes to class.
T i mi hngude yf. He loves to buy expensive clothes. [Where did
we see the character before? More details on it later in this
lesson.]
Note: We have learned the character jin and that it is used in
words such as , , and . Now, let us learn another important use of
it.
jin Item; (measure word for articles and for
clothes, especially upper-body clothes)
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M. Chu, 10
Zh lingjin dngxi fng zi zhr, ky ma? Is it okay to put these
couple of things here?
T zutin mi de nijin dy tidle. The coat that he bought yesterday
was too big.
7) zhung: outfit; pack; install; pretend
() is a meaning-phonetic combination, with as its meaning
component and (pronounced zhung in modern Mandarin) as the phonetic
component.
fzhung dress; clothing
nnzhung mens clothes
nzhung womens clothes
Nnzhung h nzhung btng. Drn fzhung h rtng fzhung y btng. Mens
clothes and womens clothes are differnt. Adult clothes and children
clothes are also different.
8) hu: flower; colorful; (family name)
The ancient graphs illustrate a flowering plant. These images
are most likely the ancestors of both and (flower; splendar;
maganificent) in current standard form. Based on the shape of the
ancient graphs, it is reasonable to assume that was the direct
decendent and a later development. The process could be one of
character simplification not dissimilar to the modern era (xnzo
xngshngz) method: forming a new semantic-phonetic character, having
one component representing the semantic category (which was , the
earlier form of grass/plant, here) and another component
representing the sound value (which was in this case) of the new
character. The newer form seemed to have been granted for the more
common uses while the older form continue to be used for more
formal ones. hum flowers and trees
hushng peanut
huqin spend money
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M. Chu, 11
T xng Hu, jio Hu Mln. (Her family name is Hua and her name is
Hua Mulan.
3.
9) wn: play; have fun; do something for amusement
()
Apparently the character is a later development as no ancient
graph before Shu Wn Ji Z (Explaining and Analyzing Characters, of
100 or 121 CE) was found. The character consists of two components:
(which is written as as a left-side component) and . As we have
learned, the ancient graphs of picture a person, with a special
focus on the headtop. The component (pronounced yun in modern
Mandarin) is most likely used to approximate the characters
pronunciation, but may contribute to its meaning as well. The
meaning play may have been expressed through the image of a person
toying/appreciating a piece of jade. iwn love to play
chh-wnl idle away one's time in pleasure-seeking
hown fun; interesting
dinwn video game
Shngge Xngqli yu hndu tngxu li wji wn. Last Saturday, many
classmates came to my home to play.
Zhr miyu hndu hown de dfng. There are not many fun places
here.
Wmen q xushng zhngxn de yuxsh d dinwn ba. Lets go to the
gameroom at the Student Center to play some video games.
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M. Chu, 12
10) j: tool; device; instrument
()
()
()
All ancient graphs picture two hands holding something, which is
understood by some as a food container or a utensil and by others
as shell or money. In either case, this could help explain the fact
that the character still carries the meaning of prepare or provide.
wnj stationary
gngj tool; instrument
chj tea set; tea service
wnj toy
N sh yto hnhode chj. W hn xing mi, ksh di hu hndu qin. That was
a very nice set of tea service. I would very much like to buy it,
but it cost lots of money.) N n'r de wnj tidule. Bi zi mi le. Your
daughter has too many toys. Dont buy any more.
11) pn: product; goods; grade (of product)
()
()
()
()
Ancient graphs picture three piled-up objects. Three, as it
includes both an odd number, one, and an even number, two, is
traditionally considered as the meaningful indication of
multiplicity. Later the meaning was extended to that of comparing
among a group of things or people and grading them. The current
uses of the character also illustrate its sense of collectivity.
zupn works (of literature or art)
shpn foodstuff; food
yngpn articles for use
ryngpn household supplies
nipn dairy products
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M. Chu, 13
T sh bnd yumngde zuji, zupn hndu. She is a famous author in this
area, with numerous works.
Zutin t mile hndu ryngpn. Jntin t yu q nl mile shpn. Yesterday
he bought a good amount of household supplies. Today, he went again
and bought some food.
W bch nipn, qtde shpn du miyu wnt. I do not eat dairy products
but have no problems with any other food.
12) xng: go; ok hng: row; column; firm
() () () () The ancient scripts illustrate similar images, which
are generally interpreted as footsteps or crossroad. xngrn
pedestrian
xngxng planet
bxng wont do; wont work; not allowed
shnghng commercial firm; trading company; store
ynhng bank
W xin q ynhng, zi q mi dngxi. Ill first go to the bank, and ten
to go buy something. Xuxio witou yu jji shnghng h ynhng. Outside of
the school, there are a few stores and banks.
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M. Chu, 14
Linx: Exercises
1. Bhu jigu: Character Strokes and Structures
(1) Traditional Characters: Trace and write to become familiar
with the structure of characters
bi: cowry; shell bo: treasure mi: buy mi: sell
: bagel : treasure : buy books : buying & selling bu
y: clothes f: serve, clothes zhung: dress, dress up hu:
flower
: overcoat : clothing, clothes : outfit : flowers &
trees
wn: play j: tool; instrument pn: product; goods; grade
hng: firm : love to play : toy : foodstuff : bank
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M. Chu, 15
1. Bhu jigu: Character Strokes and Structures
(2) Simplified Characters: Trace and write to become familiar
with the structure of characters
bi: cowry; shell bo: treasure mi: buy mi: sell : bagel :
treasure : buy books : buying & selling bu
y: clothes f: serve, clothes zhung: dress, dress up hu:
flower
: overcoat : clothing, clothes : outfit : flowers &
trees
wn: play j: tool; instrument pn: product; goods; grade
hng: firm : love to play : toy : foodstuff : bank
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M. Chu, 16
Notes on Character Simplification:
1. Adopting the method of (cosh kihu): Using the short-hand
cursive style ( cosh) of a traditional full-form character or
character component but linearizes the connected or tangled strokes
into independent standard style ( kish) stroke lines.
is simplified to is simplified to
2. Adopting the method of (jb shnch): Deleting certain component
of the traditional character.
is simplified to
3. Adopting the method of (fho dit): Replacing complex
components of a traditional character with a simpler existing
characters or components, or with particularly created symbols.
is simplified to is simplified to
, the simplified character for , combines a particular form with
(which is the simplified character for , meaning head). , the
simplified character for , adds one additional component over . The
simplified forms do not have any semantic relationship with the
traditional ones and no meaningful association is found between the
components of the simplified forms. The simplification process
seems to be using reduced strokes to represent the general
4. (yng ytz) method was adopted in the simplification process of
the following characters.
has a variant form in the simplified character system
This method is basically to use a variant way of writing a
character in fewer strokes. Sometimes, the variant does not have
reduced number of strokes but it is just in a slightly different
style. The stroke reduction, when it happens, may have been
resulted from connecting adjacent strokes or eliminating some. This
change is slight and casual and sometimes not considered as part of
the simplification scheme. At times, the changes may have happened
in the traditional character system instead of the simplified
character system. The component in the character has been written
for hundreds of years like this and remains to be so in the
simplified character system. The difference between the forms in
the two systems was actually caused by a recent standardization in
the traditional character systemby changing the third stroke of the
component from left slanting ( pi) to horizontal ( hng).
Additionally, the two horizontal lines of the top grass component
in the traditional character are connected into one horizontal
line.
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M. Chu, 17
2. C y duyng: Matching words with meaning
(1) Write the Chinese equivalent of the following in
characters
buying and selling: __________________ shopping _______________
shopping for grocery: __________________ order take out (food):
_______________ treasure: ________________ baby: _____________ the
Four Treasures ________________ BMW: _______________
overcoat: ________________ sweater: _________________
dress; clothing: ________________ womens clothes:
_________________
mens clothes: ________________ flowers and trees:
_________________
peanuts: ________________ to spend money: _________________
tool: ________________ toy: _________________
love to play: ________________ video game: _________________
tea set: ________________ household supplies:
_________________
dairy product: ________________ foodstuff: _________________
pedestrian: ________________ planet: _________________
bank: ________________ commercial firm; store:
_______________
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M. Chu, 18
3. Hud wnt: Answer Questions Write your answers and translate
them into English.
(1)
_____________________________________________________________________
(2)
_____________________________________________________________________
(3)
_____________________________________________________________________
(4)
_____________________________________________________________________
(5)
_____________________________________________________________________
(6)
_____________________________________________________________________
(7)
_____________________________________________________________________
(8)
_____________________________________________________________________