Learn how to use unequal comparatives
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hey there! I’m Brandon and welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com. This is lower beginner Season 1, Lesson 19 - Does It Get Cold in Vietnam? |
| Huyen: Xin chào! I’m Huyen. |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you'll learn how to make comparisons. The conversation takes place on the speakers’ way home from school and is between Lan Anh and David. |
| Huyen: The speakers are friends, so they'll be using informal Vietnamese. |
| Brandon: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Lan Anh: Ôi lạnh quá. Trời lạnh thế này tớ chả muốn làm gì. |
| David: Mùa đông ở Việt Nam không lạnh như ở Mỹ. |
| Lan Anh: Thế à? Mùa đông ở Mỹ bao nhiêu độ? |
| David: Dưới 0 độ, và có tuyết. |
| Lan Anh: Lạnh nhỉ, nhưng tớ cũng muốn được nhìn thấy tuyết. |
| David: Vậy năm sau cậu sang Mỹ nghỉ đông đi. |
| Brandon: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Lan Anh: Ôi lạnh quá. Trời lạnh thế này tớ chả muốn làm gì. |
| David: Mùa đông ở Việt Nam không lạnh như ở Mỹ. |
| Lan Anh: Thế à? Mùa đông ở Mỹ bao nhiêu độ? |
| David: Dưới 0 độ, và có tuyết. |
| Lan Anh: Lạnh nhỉ, nhưng tớ cũng muốn được nhìn thấy tuyết. |
| David: Vậy năm sau cậu sang Mỹ nghỉ đông đi. |
| Brandon: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Lan Anh: Ôi lạnh quá. Trời lạnh thế này tớ chả muốn làm gì. |
| Brandon: Oh, so cold. I don't want to do anything in such cold weather. |
| David: Mùa đông ở Việt Nam không lạnh như ở Mỹ. |
| Brandon: The winter in Vietnam is not as cold as in the US. |
| Lan Anh: Thế à? Mùa đông ở Mỹ bao nhiêu độ? |
| Brandon: Really? How low is the temperature in the winter in the US? |
| David: Dưới 0 độ, và có tuyết. |
| Brandon: Below zero degrees, and it snows. |
| Lan Anh: Lạnh nhỉ, nhưng tớ cũng muốn được nhìn thấy tuyết. |
| Brandon: How cold that is! But I also want to see the snow. |
| David: Vậy năm sau cậu sang Mỹ nghỉ đông đi. |
| Brandon: Then go to the US for the next winter holiday. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: Huyen, can you tell our listeners something about the winter in Vietnam? |
| Huyen: Sure. As we've learned, in southern vietnam it is warm year round, so winter only happens in northern Vietnam. So if you want to experience winter in Vietnam, you should go to the northern areas. |
| Brandon: How long is the winter? |
| Huyen: About three months. It often starts in November and ends in January. But in some years, it starts earlier and ends later. Basically, cold season is until the end of February. |
| Brandon: I see. Are there any special events in winter? Do you have Christmas? |
| Huyen: We do celebrate Christmas, but it's not a holiday. The longest holiday in the cold season is the lunar New Year. |
| Brandon: Do you mean the Chinese New Year? |
| Huyen: Right, but it’s called the Tet holiday in Vietnam, and is celebrated at the same time as the New Year in China. Though the holiday is supposed to be in the spring, the weather during Tet is still cold. |
| Brandon: Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: The first word we shall see is: |
| Huyen: thế này [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: so, such, like this |
| Huyen: thế này [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: thế này [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: mùa đông [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: winter |
| Huyen: mùa đông [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: mùa đông [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: dưới [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: under, below |
| Huyen: dưới [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: dưới [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: tuyết [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: snow |
| Huyen: tuyết [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: tuyết [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: nhưng [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: but |
| Huyen: nhưng [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: nhưng [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: nhìn thấy [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to see |
| Huyen: nhìn thấy [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: nhìn thấy [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: năm sau [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: next year |
| Huyen: năm sau [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: năm sau [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Huyen: sang [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to go, to come |
| Huyen: sang [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: sang [natural native speed] |
| And Last: |
| Huyen: nghỉ đông [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: winter vacation/ to take winter vacation |
| Huyen: nghỉ đông [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Huyen: nghỉ đông [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Brandon: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson.The first word we have is: |
| Huyen: thế này |
| Brandon: "so," "such," or "like this." |
| Huyen: Its full form is “như thế này,” and it's put after the adjective, adverb, verb, noun, or noun phrase it complements. |
| Brandon: Let’s hear some examples. |
| Huyen: Tôi chưa bao giờ nhìn thấy pháo hoa đẹp thế này. |
| Brandon: "I have never seen such beautiful fireworks." |
| Huyen: Tôi không nghĩ là anh ấy sáng tạo thế này. |
| Brandon: "I don’t think that he's so creative." |
| Brandon: Okay, what’s the second word? |
| Huyen: The second word is a preposition. It is dưới. |
| Brandon: And it means "under, or, below." If you remember, in the Absolute Beginner Series, we learned that it refers to a lower position, as in this sample sentence. |
| Huyen: Lan đứng đợi bạn dưới gốc cây. |
| Brandon: "Lan is standing under the tree waiting for her friends." |
| Huyen: In this lesson, “dưới” means “a lower level, degree or quantity”. For example, “Thuốc này không dùng cho trẻ dưới 5 tuổi.” |
| Brandon: "This medicine can't be used for children under 5 years old." |
| Huyen: Finally, we have a conjunction, “nhưng” |
| Brandon: Which means "but". It's used to join two ideas that aren't the same or that contradict each other. It's put between the two clauses or phrases that express these two different ideas. |
| Huyen: Cô ấy thông minh nhưng rất kiêu ngạo. |
| Brandon: "She's smart but very arrogant." OK. Now let’s move on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use unequal comparatives. In the dialogue, you heard |
| Huyen: Mùa đông ở Việt Nam không lạnh như ở Mỹ. |
| Brandon: "The winter in Vietnam is not as cold as in the US." |
| Huyen: To compare two people or things that are not equal, the main phrase is, |
| “không...[something]...như… [something]: ” or “không [something]…..bằng…[something]” |
| Brandon: It’s equivalent to the structure, “not as [something]...as [something]…” in English. for example “This candy is not as sweet as that candy.” |
| Huyen Cái kẹo này không ngọt bằng cái kẹo kia. |
| Brandon There are two main structures. One with an adjective and the other with an adverb. |
| Huyen: When you’re using adjectives, start with the subject, followed by “không,” which means “no" or "not”, then add the adjective followed by “như” or “bằng,” which means “as”. Finally add the object indicating the second person or thing. |
| t |
| Brandon: Let’s hear an example. |
| Huyen: Căn nhà này không rộng bằng nhà Mai. |
| Brandon: “This house is not as large as Mai’s.” |
| Huyen: If you’re using adverbs, start with the subject, followed by “không”, then add the main verb followed by its adverb. After that, add “như” or “bằng,” then the object indicating the second person or thing. |
| Brandon: Here are some sample sentences. |
| Huyen: Tôi không chạy nhanh bằng anh ấy. |
| Brandon: “I don't run as fast as him.” |
| Huyen: Nam không dậy muộn như An. |
| Brandon: “Nam didn't get up as late as An.” From the unequal comparative, it’s very simple to create the equal comparative. |
| Huyen: You will just need to remove “không” from the structure while the rest remains unchanged. |
| Brandon: Let’s give our listeners some sample sentences. |
| Huyen: Căn nhà này rộng bằng nhà Mai. |
| Brandon: "This house is as large as Mai’s." |
| Huyen: Tôi chạy nhanh bằng anh ấy. |
| Brandon: “I run as fast as him.” |
| Brandon: Listeners, can you say this sentence in Vietnamese? “Today is not as cold as yesterday” I’ll give you some time to think. |
| Huyen: Were you able to say it? Pretty easy, right? It’s “Hôm nay không lạnh bằng hôm qua.” |
| Brandon: Why not try to compare people or things around you using what we've learned, and let us know how you did in the comments. |
Outro |
| Brandon: For a review and more detailed information, remember to check the lesson notes. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. Bye! |
| Huyen: Tạm biệt! |
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