Everyday Chinese: Lesson 18 At the Supermarket

Dialogues

If you want to ask the salesman whether there is shampoo sold in the store, you can say that in Chinese: Qing3 wen4 you3 xi3fa4shui3 mai4 ma? Qing3, please. wen4, ask. you3, to have. xi3fa4shui3, shampoo. mai4 to sell. ma, a question particle here. Normally it's put at the end of each question. Qing3 wen4 you3 xi3fa4shui3 mai4 ma? Please may I ask is there shampoo sold here? 　

There seems to be something wrong with this shampoo. You want to return this. you can say that in Chinese: wo3 xiang3 tui4 huo4. wo3, I. xiang3, want to. tui4, to give back, to return. huo4, goods, products. wo3 xiang3 tui4 huo4. I'd like to return this.

In the supermarket It's common that the sales person would ask you：Nin2 de fa1piao4 dai4 lai2 le ma? nin2 de, yours. fa1piao4, receipt. dai4, to bring. lai2 here is used after the verb "dai4" to indicate motion towards the speaker. le, a particle, denoting the completion of the action. ma, a question particle.Nin2 de fa1piao4 dai4 lai2 le ma? Do you have the receipt with you?

When this sales person try to persuade you to keep the product because the problem with it is not that serious. Still you want to return can say: nin2 gei3 tui4 le 2, the polite form of ni3. gei3, originally means to give. Here it workds as a particle, used before the verb "tui4", to show the emphasis. tui4, to return. "Le" is a particle, coming after a verb. It denotes the completion of the action. For example: 这本书我看完了。I've finished reading the book. 下课了。Class is over. ba,it's also a particle. It's put at the end of an imperative sentence, making the tone sound moderate. nin2 gei3 tui4 le ba3. Please help me return this.