Chinese For Dummies (41 page)

zǔfù
祖父
(dzoo-foo) (
paternal grandfather
)

zǔmǔ
祖母
(dzoo-moo) (
paternal grandmother
)

Talkin' the Talk

Deborah meets her daughter's classmate, Samantha, and asks about Samantha's family.

Deborah:

Samantha, nǐ yǒu méiyǒu xiōngdì jiěmèi?

Samantha, nee yo mayo shyoong-dee jyeh-may?

Samantha, do you have any brothers or sisters?

Samantha:

Wǒ yǒu yíge jiějie.

waw yo ee-guh jyeh-jyeh.

I have an older sister.

Deborah:

Tā yě huì jiǎng Zhōngwén ma?

tah yeah hway jyahng joong-one-mah?

Can she also speak Chinese?

Samantha:

Búhuì. Tā zhǐ huì Yīngyǔ.

boo-hway. tah jir hway eeng-yew.

No. She only speaks English.

Deborah:

Nǐde fùmǔ zhù zài nǎr?

nee-duh foo-moo joo dzye nar?

Where do your parents live?

Samantha:

Wǒmen dōu zhù zài Běijīng. Wǒ bàba shì wàijiāoguān.

waw-mun doe joo dzye bay-jeeng. waw bah-bah shir why-jyaow-gwan.

We all live in Beijing. My father is a diplomat.

Deborah:

Nà tài hǎo le.

nah tye how luh.

That's great.

Making Small Talk on the Job

The kind of job you have can say plenty about you. It can also be a great topic of conversation or spice up an otherwise-dull exchange. To ask someone about his or her
gōngzuò
工作
(goong-dzwaw) (work), you can say
Nǐ zuò shénme gōngzuò?
你做什么工作
? (
你做甚麼工作
?) (nee dzwaw shummuh goong-dzwaw?) (
What kind of work do you do?
) You may even try to guess and say, for example,
Nǐ shì lǎoshī ma?
你是老师吗
? (
你是老師嗎
?) (nee shir laow-shir mah?) (
Are you a teacher?
)

The following are some occupations you or the person you're talking with may hold:

biānjí
编辑
(
編輯
) (byan-jee) (
editor
)

cáiféng
裁缝
(
裁縫
)
(tsye-fung) (
tailor
)

chéngwùyuán
乘务员
(
乘務員
) (chuhng-woo-ywan) (
flight attendant
)

chūnàyuán
出纳员
(
出納員
) (choo-nah-ywan) (
bank teller
)

diàngōng
电工
(
電工
) (dyan-goong) (
electrician
)

fēixíngyuán
飞行员
(
飛行員
) (fay-sheeng-ywan) (
pilot
)

hǎiguān guānyuán
海关官员
(
海關官員
) (hi-gwan gwan-ywan) (
customs agent
)

hùshì
护士
(
護士
) (who-shir) (
nurse
)