M: 大家好!我是ML!
S: dajia hao! Wo shi Stuart.
M: Pencil and paper ready? Hao! 请,Please, qǐng, repeat the Chinese out loud with us.
S: First some tone practice. Remember the four tones, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th.
M: flat, up, down and up, down. Let's try ba BA BA ba. Ready, bā bá bǎ bà. Again, bā bá bǎ bà. 很好,非常好。
S: ML, let's try something else. Instead of 1st tone to 4th, why not 4th to 1st. You do it with ba.
M: 没问题,no problem, mei wenti. Here goes. Bà bǎ bá bā. All together, bà bǎ bá bā. Once more, bà bǎ bá bā.
S: Great. That calls for a break! Then maybe we leave this jichang!
M: At last we're going to leave the 机场。But, 天啊,too much luggage! Stuart, 你的行李太多了! Ni de xingli tai duo!
S: 是的,我的行李太多了! wode xingli tai duo le!
M: Ni de xingli tai duo le. Tài TAI tài, means "too", as in ‘too much'. Duo DUO, duō, means many or much. Tài duō, ‘too many', or ‘too much'. Xingli tai duo le.
S: The little LE on the end doesn't have any real meaning. It's just a colloquial habit.
M:Right. Stuart, 你的行李太多了! Ni de xingli tai duo le!
S: 没问题,no problem, mei wenti. 我来拿, wo lai na. I'll get it. Wo lai na. OOH! 太重了!tai zhong le! Wo de xingli tai zhong le.
M: Guessed what tai zhong means? 对了,dui le. Too heavy, tai zhong. Zhòng ZHONG zhong, 4th tone, zhòng. 他的行李太重了. His luggage is too heavy. Ta de xingli tai zhong le.
M: So much luggage! Now, you guys at home, follow and repeat this short dialogue. Stuart, 你的行李太多了. Ni de xingli tai duo le.
S: Wo tongyi. 我的行李太多了. Wode xingli tài duo le.
M: 你的行李也太重了。 Ni de xingli yě tai zhong.
S: Shide, wo de xingli ye tai zhong. Wo de xingli ye tai zhong.
M: Did you hear a new word? Listen. Ni de xingli tai duo le. Ni de xingli yě tai zhong le. I'm sure you did. It's yě YE ye, 3rd tone, yě. Can you guess what it means? A clue. Too much luggage, and also too heavy. Guessed? Right. Yě yě means ‘also, or ‘as well'.
S: So, can you say, ‘Ok, you go, and I'll also go'. Remember how to say ‘go'? Right, zǒu ZOU zǒu, or qù QU qù. So try to say ‘Ok, you go, and I'll also go'. …..
M: Did you say,Hao, ni zou, wo ye zou. Or, Hao, ni qu, wo ye qu. Hen hao!
S: Ok, ML, it's time for us to go now. 我们也走。We'll also go. So, until next time, Zai jian.
M: Zai jian.