Title: STEP 2.5 Grammar Points
Course: Chinese for You: Shanghai

DIRECTIONS: Read through the grammar points and then answer the questions!

1. ????/ ???? How do I buy it? How is it sold?

The debate is on, some people will say you should has how to buy it, some will say how do you sell it. They sound the almost the same in Chinese so and the meaning is the same in this case! Lots of things can be sold in different ways. By the weight, by the bag, bundle, case or box. In these cases it is easier to ask HOW to buy or sell it verses how much it costs. In your dialog the xiao long bao are sold by the long. (bamboo basket)

???? (hé) Three yuan for one box.

?????(xi?ng) Three yuan for one case.

2. (adj.) ? ??

You are already familiar with the sentences using ? to make comparisons.

?????He is taller than me.

?????????This book is much more expensive than that book.

In this case the ?? as an extra emphasis or just means 'a lot.'

?????? He is a lot taller than me.

??????????? This book is a lot more expensive than that book.

3. ????.....?

This is include because it is useful and people often confuse ?? and ?? so it is important to take another look at them. This phrase means 'How could (it/you/something) be so (adjective)!'

??????? How can you be so stupid!

??????? How can he be so lazy!

?????????? How can your Chinese be so good!

4. ?+verb

In this case ? mean 'just' ?It is most often used with ???????

????? I just like it.

?????I just want to go.

Assignment: Answer the questions and submit!

Think about three other things you might buy in weight or groups. It can even be as simple as 2 shirts for 10 yuan ? ???????

1.

2.

3.

What kind of things can you also find shocking! Think of adjective and then make an explanation about them!

4.

5.

6.

Translate these sentence and include ??.

7. My younger brother is a lot smarter than my younger sister.

8. He is much better looking than my old boyfriend.

9. Her cat is a lot fatter than my cat.

10. Russian is much more difficult than Spanish.