中文系有多少学生？

Notes

1. “这是我们中文系。” — “This is our Philology Department”.

   “中文系” is the short form for “the Chinese Language and Literature Department”.

   Both “汉语”, “中文” refer to the language of China’s Han nationality, the chief language spoken and written in China. In practical use, however, the two terms have slightly different points of emphasis. “汉语” usually refers to Chinese as it is spoken (about Chinese), and “中文” on the other hand, refers to the written language of the Han nationality and its literature (in Chinese). Here are some common expressions that will show you the difference in usage:

   汉语书	— Chinese language books
   汉语杂志	— a magazine about the Chinese language
   汉语课 (kè)	— Chinese lesson
   汉语老师	— Chinese teacher
   中文系	— the Chinese Language and Literature Department
   中文书	— Chinese books
   中文画报	— Chinese pictorial
   中文杂志	— Chinese magazine
   中文报纸	— Chinese newspapers

   The same goes for foreign languages, except that phrases like “中国话” are almost never used. For example, you should say “说俄语”, “说俄文”, “学俄语”, “学俄文”, “俄语书”, “俄文报纸” etc.

2. “中文系有多少学生？” — “How many students are there in the Chinese Language and Literature Department?”
   “阅览室有中文杂志吗？” — “Are there any Chinese magazines in the reading room?”

   Besides denoting possession, the verb “有” also indicates existence. In a sentence with “有”, indicating existence, the noun that precedes the verb, denoting either a collective or a place, is the subject of the sentence.

3. “有几个中国老师？” “How many Chinese teachers are there?”

   “几” and “多少” are both used to ask about numbers. “几” is usually used with respect to a number smaller than ten. “多少” is used for any number.

   There must be a measure word between “几” and the noun it qualifies. “多少” is used with or without a measure word. E.g.

   “她̣认̣识几个中国朋友？”		How many Chinese friends does she have?
   “你̣有̣多少̣(本)英文杂志？”		How many English magazines do you have?

   When asking about family members, a special measure word is used “口”.

   你们家有几口人？

   How many people are there in your family?

4. “我和玛沙还有一个中国老师。” “Me and Masha have one more Chinese teacher.”

   The use of the adverb “还” is “in addition to”, “besides”, “also”, “more” etc. E.g.:

   王老̣师教语法、还教口语。		Teacher Wang teaches grammar, he also teaches spoken language.
   我̣认识那个留学生、还常常去宿舍看他。		I know that foreign student, besides, I often visit him in the dormitory.

5. “谁？” — “Who (is that)?”

   “谁？” here is an elliptical question, meaning “那个中国老师是谁？” Other interrogative pronouns such as “什么”, “哪儿”, “多少” can also be used elliptically if the context or situation leaves no room for misunderstanding.

   Note that “谁” has two pronunciations: “shéi” and “shuí”. The former is preferred in colloquial speech.

6. “不敢当。你们是我的俄语老师。” — “I don’t really deserve it. You are my Russian teachers.”

   “不敢当”, meaning “I don’t really deserve it”, is used in reply to a complimentary remark from the person spoken to. In modern Chinese, another reply: “哪里” (nǎlǐ) is more commonly used.

7. “我们互相学习。” — “Let’s learn from each other.”

Substitution and Extension

一

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

二

1. Talking about your family

   A:

   你家有几口人？

   B:

   我家有五口人：爸爸、妈妈、我爱人、还有一个孩子。

   A:

   你爱人也工作吗？

   B:

   她也工作、她在图书馆工作。你有几个孩子？

   A:

   我有三个孩子。他们都是学生。

2. Talking about your studies
   

   A:

   你是不是中文系的学生？

   B:

   我是中文系的学生。

   A:

   几个中国老师教你们？

   B:

   三个中国老师教我们。

   A:

   中国老师教你们什么？

   B:

   他们教我们语法和口语。

   A:

   你常写汉字吗？

   B:

   我常写汉字。

   A:

   你现在认识多少汉字？

   B:

   我现在认识九十个汉字。

3. Making a reply to a complimentary remark from the person spoken to
   

   A:

   你的汉语很好、请多帮助我。

   B:

   不敢当、我们互相学习。

4. Buying books
   

   A:

   请问、有汉语语法书吗？

   B:

   有。你买几本？

   A:

   我买一本。有没有中文杂志？

   B:

   没有。

RÉNMÍN RÌBÀO
Newspaper “RENMIN RIBAO”

Reading text

Grammar

❶ Chinese numbers from 1 to 99

In Chinese, the decimal system is used for numeration.

❷ Numeral-measure words as attributives

In modern Chinese, a numeral alone cannot function as an attributive but must be combined with a measure word inserted between the numeral and the noun it modifies. E.g.

In Chinese, every noun as a rule has its specific measure word and can’t go freely with others. In this lesson we only deal with the measure words “个” and “本”. Of all the measure words “个” is the most extensively used. It can be placed before a noun denoting a person, thing or unit. “本” is placed before nouns denoting books and suchlike. E.g.

Points to be noted:

1. Chinese nouns have no number. A noun may be either singular or plural without any change of form.
2. Whether a noun denotes one person or thing or more than one is shown mainly by other members of the sentence such as attributives (made of numeral-measure words, demonstrative pronouns or adjectives).

❸ Sentences with a predicate verb taking two objects

Some verbs can take two objects: an indirect object (usually referring to a person) and a direct object (usually referring to a thing), with the former preceding the latter. For example, “教”, “还”, “告诉”, “问”, “给”.

Note that some but not all Chinese verbs can take two objects; there are only a small number that can. Chinese idiom requires that the indirect objects “我” and “他” be preceded by the preposition “给”. That is why it is correct to say:

“他给̣我买一本书” и “我给̣他介绍我的朋友”.

In case of the verb “还” “return”, two objects can be used both with a preposition and without:

Exercises

1. Read out the following phrases and make sentences with them:

   (1)

   中文系
   中文书
   中文杂志
   俄文画报
   给我法语词典
   借英语词典
   还他外语词典

   俄语系
   法文书
   汉语词典
   法文杂志
   借外文画报
   看中文报纸

   (2)

   英文系
   俄文书
   中文画报
   看外文杂志
   教我汉语
   教我中文

   外语系
   外文书
   英文杂志
   法文画报
   学汉语

   外语学院
   说中文
   说汉语
   学中文
   

2. Read the following numbers, then write out in Chinese characters: 10, 54, 32, 61, 40, 17, 99, 82.

   

3. Do the following sums orally:

   Пример:		1 + 2
   	→	一加二是几？
   		一加二是三。

   (1) 4 + 6; (2) 21 + 18; (3) 37 + 3; (4) 50 + 20; (5) 68 + 27

   Example:		20 - 3
   	→	二十减三是多少？
   		二十减三是十七。

   (1) 85-4; (2) 48-18; (3) 90-32; (4) 6-1; (5) 79-69

4. Try to say the following multiplication formulas:
   Example:

   一二

   得

   二

   (1 × 2 = 2)

   二三

   得

   六

   (2 × 3 = 6)

   四七

   得

   二十八

   (4 × 7 = 28)

   (1)

   一

   六

   (2)

   六

   七

   (3)

   三

   八

   (4)

   四

   九

   (5)

   七

   七

   (6)

   五

   八

   (7)

   八

   九

   (8)

   九

   九

5. Fill in the blanks with measure words, and then ask questions using “几” or “多少”:

   Example:		我有一中国朋友。
   	→	我有一个中国朋友。
   		你有几个中国朋友？

   (1)

   三老师教我们。

   (2)

   他去书店买一语法书。

   (3)

   我们医院有五十大夫。

   (4)

   阅览室有八十七画报。

   (5)

   这儿有一银行。

6. Answer the following questions:

   1. 谁教安德烈语法？
      
   2. 丁云是不是老师？她教他们什么？
      
   3. 他们教丁云什么？
      
   4. 你们班有几个老师？
      
   5. 谁教你们语法？
      
   6. 中国老师教你们什么？
      
   7. 你问老师什么？
      
   8. 你问谁生词？
      

Pronunciation and Intonation

❶ Word stress (3)

When a numeral is combined with a measure word, the numeral generally has a strong stress and the measure word is pronounced with a weak stress. E.g.

ˉ			˘	ˉ		ˉ	˘		´	˘
三	个		(老	师)		七	本		(词	典)
•				•		•				•
`			´			`	˘		`	`
六	个		(学	生)		四	本		(画	报)
•			•			•				•
˘			`			˘	˘		´	`
五	个		(大	夫)		九	本		(杂	志)
•			•			•				•

The numeral “十” when standing alone, is uttered with a strong stress. When “十” is combined with other numerals, it is not stressed if it forms the first element, as in “十二” “12”, but it is stressed when it is the second element, as in “三十” “30”. When “十” is followed by a measure word, it is pronounced with a weak stress, as in “三十个”, “四十本”. When “十” is sandwiched between other numerals it is also pronounced with a weak stress, as in “九十三个”.

❷ Exercises

1. Read aloud the following numerals, paying attention to the pronunciation of “十”:

   六	七
   十一̣	十二̣
   二十̣	三十̣
   七十̣	八十̣
   七十三̣	八十四̣
   五̣十个	六̣十个
   二十二̣本	七十四̣本
   六十三̣本	九十九̣本

   八	九	十
   十三̣	十四̣	十五̣
   四十̣	五十̣	六十̣
   二十一̣	三十二̣
   九十五̣	四̣十个
   七̣十个	八̣十个
   八十五̣本
   五十一̣本

2. Read aloud the following words and expressions containing the sounds z, c and s, paying attention to their pronunciation and tone:

   `

   `

   `

   `

   `

   `

   ´

   z:

   在

   坐

   再

   见

   汉

   字

   名

   字

   ´

   ˘

   ˉ

   ´

   ˉ

   ´

   c:

   词

   典

   三

   层

   生

   词

   `

   ˉ

   ´

   `

   `

   `

   s:

   四

   个

   三

   十

   告

   诉

   宿

   舍

3. Read out and translate the following numerals:

   Shísān; bāshí; liùshi’èr; jiǔshisì; shíqī; èrshiwǔ; sìshí; wǔshibā; sānshiliù; bāshiyī;

   十三；八十；六十二；九十四；十七；二十五；四十；五十八；三十六；八十一。

4. Read the numbers from “11” to “30” fluently, adding the word “hào” “number”;
   Count back from “45” to “34”;
   Name all even numbers from “46” to “64”;
   Name all number that are divided by “3”, from “66” to “99”.

Test exercises

Listen to the following trisyllabic words. Write them in transcription pinyin. Lay tone marks:

咖啡厅；图书室；展览馆；课程表；教学楼；博览会；北美洲。

Write the following sentences in Chinese characters adding tone marks above them:

1. Wǒ shì Wàiyǔ xuéyuànde xuésheng. Wǒ xuéxí hànyǔ hé yīngyǔ. Wǒmen xì jiào zhōngwén xì, yǒu sānshiwǔge xuésheng.

   Wǒmen yǒu sānge Zhōngguó lǎoshī. Liǎngge lǎoshī jiāo wǒmen kǒuyǔ, yíge jiāo wǒmen hànzì. Wǒmen hái yǒu yíge lǎoshī, tā shì Éluósī rén, tā jiāo wǒmen yǔfǎ. Wǒmende lǎoshī dōu hěn hǎo.

   Zhōngwén xì yǒu yíge túshūguǎn hé yíge yuèlǎnshì. Wǒ chángcháng qù yuèlǎnshì kàn shū. Nàr yǒu zhōngwén zázhì hé huàbào, hái yǒu hànyǔ cídiǎn.

2. Nǐde hànyǔ hěn hǎo! Nǐ shì hànyǔ lǎoshī ma? — Bù gǎn dāng, wǒ shì xuésheng. — Shéi jiāo nǐ kǒuyǔ? — Wǒ yǒu jǐge Zhōngguó péngyou, tāmen jiāo wǒ kǒuyǔ, wǒmen cháng shuō hànyǔ. Tāmen cháng gěi wǒ jièshào xīn shū hé zázhì.
3. Wǒmen bān yǒu jiǔge xuésheng: sìge nánshēng hé wǔge nǚsheng. Wǒmen cháng qù túshūguǎn jiè xīn shū, xīn bào hé cídiǎn. Wǒmen hùxiāng bāngzhù, hùxiāng xuéxí.

③ Exercise on reading and understanding unfamiliar words, made of the characters you know:

英文；法文；文学；教书；教师；教学；医生；经验；不敢说。

Translate the following sentences from English into Chinese:

1. — How many reading rooms does your department have?
   — (It) has one. I often read Chinese newspapers and magazines there.
   
2. — Who teaches you the spoken language?
   — Teacher Wang. He also teaches us Chinese characters. Teacher Xie also teaches spoken Chinese.
   
3. — How many laboratories are there in your Institute?
   — Forty two.
   
4. — What did you tell him?
   — I told him my friend’s name.
   
5. — How many Chinese dictionaries do you have?
   — I have nine Chinese dictionaries, also, (I) have three English dictionaries.
   
6. — What are you returning to him?
   — I’m returning to him three French books.
   
7. I often go to the library and take Foreign languages books.
   
8. — How many students are there in your class?
   — Seven students.
   
9. — How many teachers do teach you foreign languages?
   — Three. One teaches grammar, one — spoken language, one — Chinese characters.
   
10. — Does your elder sister have children?
    — (She) has one child.
    
11. — Do you have Chinese books?
    — (I) have several.
    
12. — Where is my magazine?
    — There.
    
13. — What does teacher Xie teach you?
    — He teaches us Chinese. Besides, (he) teaches Chinese characters.
    
14. — What did he ask you?
    — He asked me our teacher’s name.
    
15. — Is your library new?
    — Yes.
    
16. — What magazines do you take in the library?
    — I take new magazines.
    
17. — Where do you study?
    — I study at the Institute of Foreign Languages in Chinese Language Department.
    
18. He doesn’t teach us grammar, he teaches us spoken language.
    
19. — How many people are there in your family?
    — Four: father, mother, elder brother and I. I and the brother are students.
    
20. He is Chinese. He often helps friends to learn Chinese characters.
    
21. — I don't know him. Introduce us, please.
    
22. — Whose car is that?
    — That is also our car. That is the husband’s car.
    
23. Not all of them are busy. Invite them to drink tea.
    
24. The library is not there, it is on the second (amer.) floor.
    
25. The reading room of our Institute doesn’t have Chinese books, the reading room of the Institute of Foreign Languages has.
    
26. — How many foreign teachers does your department have? What countries are they from?
    — Our department has 25 foreign teachers. There are (lit.: has) Englishmen, Chinese, Japanese, Frenchmen.
    
27. — Do you have Chinese Russian dictionary?
    — (I) have two dictionaries: a big one and a small one. Which one do you need?
    — Give me the small one.
    
28. I have a friend. He is a Chinese student, studies English, at Philology Department . We learn from each other.
    
29. My elder brother is now studying in England. He misses his parents very much, often writes letters to them, sends his love to his friends.
    
30. I don’t take books in the library. I buy them in the shop.
    
31. — What will you ask the teacher about?
    — I’ll ask him about new words.
    
32. — How many new words is here?
    — Here are 25 new words.
    

Do you know?

Education in China

China’s education is divided into three stages: primary school, secondary or middle school and college or university. According to China’s present educational system, the length of schooling is five years for primary school, six years for secondary or middle school (three years for junior middle school and three years for senior middle school), four years for college (five years for certain subjects). There are also secondary vocational or technical schools (usually three years) and technical colleges (usually two or three years). We have universities (大学) such as “Beijing University”, “Fudan University”. We also have institutions of higher learning specialized in one subject or study known as “学院” (colleges or institutes) such as “Beijing Engineering Institute”, “Beijing Foreign Languages Institute.”

The various departments in a university or an institute are known in China as “系” each of which consists of a number of specialities.