10 Lesson 3 Dialogue 2: It’s on me.
Dialogue:
（高先生和白小姐是男女朋友。）
白小姐：你爱不爱我？
高先生：爱！
白小姐：那你明天晚上请我和我妹妹吃晚饭，好不好？
高先生：为什么？
白小姐：因为明天是她的生日，可是我爸妈明天都很忙，不在家，没有人请她吃饭。
高先生：好！那我请你，还请她。
白小姐：你太好了！
高先生：你们喜欢吃哪国菜？中国菜还是美国菜？
白小姐：中国菜和美国菜我都喜欢吃，可是我妹妹不太喜欢。
高先生：那我们吃法国菜，怎么样？
白小姐：三个人吃法国菜！太贵了！
高先生：那日本菜呢？日本菜不太贵。
白小姐：太好了！我跟妹妹都喜欢吃日本菜，因为日本菜很好吃。我现在很饿，你饿不饿？
高先生：我也饿。你想吃什么？我为你做。
白小姐：我们一起做饭吧！
Vocabulary:
| Chinese | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|
| 白 | bái | adj., white; can also be used as a surname |
| 忙 | máng | adj., busy |
| 明天 | míng tiān | time word, tomorrow |
| 为什么 | wèi shén me | question word, why |
| 因为 | yīn wèi | conj., because |
| 可是 | kě shì | conj., but |
| 在 | zài | prep., at, on, in |
| 家 | jiā | n., home, family, house |
| 在家 | zài jiā | prep. phrase, at home |
| 请 | qǐng | v., to treat sb. to a meal |
| 还 | hái | adv., and also, in addition |
| 喜欢 | xǐ huan | v., to like |
| 还是 | háishì | conj., or |
| 跟 | gēn | prep., with |
| 现在 | xiàn zài | time word, now |
| 法国 | fǎ guó | n., France |
| 日本 | rì běn | n., Japan |
| 好吃 | hǎo chī | adj., good to taste, delicious |
| 饿 | è | adj., hungry |
| 为 | wèi | preposition, for |
| 一起 | yī qǐ | adv., together |
| 做饭 | zuò fàn | v., to cook |
| 吧 | ba | interjection, put at the end of a sentence to indicate “suggestions” |
Grammar Notes:
- Affirmative-Negative questions:
“爱不爱” and “好不好” are similar to how in English we say “Do you love me or not?” or “is it good or not?”. They are called affirmative-negative questions. It is a common way to form questions in Chinese. The structure is “V./Adj. 不 V./Adj.“. For example: if we want to say “Do you like to eat Chinese food”, we can say 你喜欢吃中国菜吗 or 你喜(欢)不喜欢吃中国菜. - The word 请:
“请我和我妹妹吃晚饭” means “treat me and my sister to a dinner”. The structure is “请 sb. 吃 …”. In the middle of the dialogue, there is a sentence: “我请你，还请她”. It means the same as the previous one, except that “请 sb. 吃…” is more specific than “请 sb.”.
We have learned the other usage of the word 请: to be polite when making a request. The structure is “请 + verb”. For example, 请问 literally “politely ask” means “May I ask…” - Offering choices with 还是：
In the sentence “中国菜还是美国菜”, “还是” is used in Chinese to provide options in a question. This is equivalent to “or” in English. The structure is “Option A 还是 Option B.” When responding to such a question, you can just choose an option, either “Option A” or “Option B.” For example, 你爱我还是他？他。 - The preposition 为
This word is used to express “for”. The structure is “A + 为 + B + Verb/Adj.”. For example, 我为你做饭 means “I cook for you”. 我们为你高兴 means “We are happy for you.” - The word 吧
It is often used at the end of a sentence to indicate “suggestion” or “request”. For example,
我们吃饭吧 means “let’s eat”.
你说吧 means “You say”. - Compare 还(hái, also, in addition) with 也 (yě, too, also):
These two adverbs are always put before verbs. Both of them mean “also,” but 还 also means “in addition, additionally”. When using them, note:
When two clauses share the same subject, we can use either of them. For example, “I like to eat Chinese food and I also like to eat American food.” We can say “我喜欢吃中国菜，也喜欢吃美国菜”. The word 也 in the sentence can be replaced by 还.
If the two clauses contain two different subjects, we can only use 也. For instance, “I like to eat Chinese food. My boyfriend also likes to eat Chinese food.” The Chinese is “我喜欢吃中国菜，我男朋友也喜欢吃中国菜。“In this sentence, we cannot use 还 because it doesn’t make sense to say “my boyfriend, in addition, likes to eat Chinese food”.
Culture Notes:
