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Mythic Mandarin

Before the stories: New Year and the station

HSK 1 Unit 8: Weather, health and celebrations · Lesson 7 of 7 · About 16 minutes

Preview version — Chinese review in progress.

Your mission: By the end of this lesson, you can wish people a happy New Year, talk about a red present and a cake, and hurry to the train station, with the last words for the HSK 1 stories.

Warm-up: do you remember?

Two quick questions from earlier lessons. Recalling before you learn makes the new material stick.

  1. Meaning

    What does 问题 mean?

    1. everybody
    2. question, problem
    3. body, health
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, question, problem.

    问题 (wèntí) means question, problem.

  2. Characters

    Which word means “to welcome”?

    1. 舒服
    2. 欢迎
    3. 下雪
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, 欢迎.

    “to welcome” is 欢迎 (huānyíng).

  3. Listening

    From an earlier unit. Listen. What does the word mean?

    Cannot listen? Read it instead

    喂 wéi

    1. to drive, to open
    2. far
    3. hello (on the phone)
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, hello (on the phone).

    You heard 喂 (wéi): hello (on the phone).

New words

  • 新年xīnniánNew Year
  • 红色hóngsèred (colour)
  • 蛋糕dàngāocake
  • 打开dǎkāito open
  • 火车站huǒchēzhànrailway station
  • 跑pǎoto run

Colours, opening and running

新年 is the New Year: 新 (new) + 年 (year). Say 新年快乐！ to wish someone a happy New Year.

  • 新年快乐！

    Xīnnián kuàilè!

    Happy New Year!

红色 is red. Many colour words end in 色 (colour). Red is the colour of New Year in China.

  • 中国人新年喜欢红色。

    Zhōngguórén xīnnián xǐhuan hóngsè.

    Chinese people like red at New Year.

打开 + thing: to open it. 跑 is to run; 跑步 is to go running for exercise.

  • 请打开你的书。

    Qǐng dǎkāi nǐ de shū.

    Please open your book.

  • 现在两点半了，我要跑去火车站！

    Xiànzài liǎng diǎn bàn le, wǒ yào pǎo qù huǒchēzhàn!

    It's half past two now, I have to run to the station!

Characters

  • 红 = 纟
  • 站 = 立
  • 跑 = 足

Open a character to see how it is written, stroke by stroke, with its meanings and words.

Happy New Year!

Li Ming visits Anna on New Year's Day, before he goes home by train.

Listen first

Play the whole conversation and answer the questions before you open the transcript.

  1. Listening

    Listen first. Who made the cake?

    1. Li Ming's mum
    2. Anna's mum
    3. Li Ming himself
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, Li Ming's mum.

    这是我妈妈做的蛋糕.

  2. Listening

    What colour is the cup?

    1. white
    2. black
    3. red
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, red.

    是一个红色的杯子.

  3. Listening

    When is Li Ming's train?

    1. at half past two
    2. in the morning
    3. at three
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, at three.

    李明 says 三点.

Show the transcript
Pinyin
Translation

  1. 李明

    安娜Ānnà，新年xīnnián快乐kuàilè！这Zhè是shì我wǒ妈妈māma做zuò的de蛋糕dàngāo。

    Anna, happy New Year! This is a cake my mum made.

  2. 安娜

    新年Xīnnián快乐kuàilè！谢谢Xièxie你nǐ！这个Zhège是shì什么shénme？

    Happy New Year! Thank you! What's this?

  3. 李明

    你Nǐ打开dǎkāi看看kànkan。

    Open it and have a look.

  4. 安娜

    是Shì一yí个gè红色hóngsè的de杯子bēizi！太Tài漂亮piàoliang了le！

    It's a red cup! It's so beautiful!

  5. 李明

    中国人Zhōngguórén新年xīnnián喜欢xǐhuan红色hóngsè。我Wǒ下午xiàwǔ坐zuò火车huǒchē回huí家jiā。

    Chinese people like red at New Year. This afternoon I'm going home by train.

  6. 安娜

    几Jǐ点diǎn的de火车huǒchē？现在Xiànzài两liǎng点diǎn半bàn了le。

    What time is the train? It's half past two now.

  7. 李明

    三Sān点diǎn！我Wǒ要yào跑pǎo去qù火车站huǒchēzhàn了le。再见Zàijiàn！

    Three o'clock! I have to run to the station. Goodbye!

Speak: listen, record, compare

Listen to each model, record yourself, then play both and compare: the rhythm, the tones, the vowels. No automatic score: your ear is the judge.

  • 三点！我要跑去火车站了。再见！

    Sān diǎn! Wǒ yào pǎo qù huǒchēzhàn le. Zàijiàn!

    Three o'clock! I have to run to the station. Goodbye!

  • 安娜，新年快乐！这是我妈妈做的蛋糕。

    Ānnà, xīnnián kuàilè! Zhè shì wǒ māma zuò de dàngāo.

    Anna, happy New Year! This is a cake my mum made.

  • 中国人新年喜欢红色。我下午坐火车回家。

    Zhōngguórén xīnnián xǐhuan hóngsè. Wǒ xiàwǔ zuò huǒchē huí jiā.

    Chinese people like red at New Year. This afternoon I'm going home by train.

Practice

  1. Meaning

    What does 新年 mean?

    1. thing, stuff
    2. New Year
    3. classmate
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, New Year.

    新年 (xīnnián) means New Year.

  2. Characters

    Which word means “red (colour)”?

    1. 女人
    2. 红色
    3. 人们
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, 红色.

    “red (colour)” is 红色 (hóngsè).

  3. Pinyin

    How do you read 蛋糕 (cake)?

    1. dángāo
    2. dāngāo
    3. dàngāo
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, dàngāo.

    蛋糕 is read dàngāo. Check the tone mark on every syllable.

  4. Listening

    Listen. What does the word mean?

    Cannot listen? Read it instead

    打开 dǎkāi

    1. to open
    2. the United Kingdom
    3. to arrive, to reach
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, to open.

    You heard 打开 (dǎkāi): to open.

  5. Pinyin

    Type the pinyin of 火车站 (railway station). Tone marks or tone numbers are welcome.

    Show the answer

    Answer: huǒchēzhàn

    火车站 is huǒchēzhàn in pinyin.

  6. Listening

    Listen. Which sentence did you hear?

    Cannot listen? Read it instead

    安娜，新年快乐！这是我妈妈做的蛋糕。 Ānnà, xīnnián kuàilè! Zhè shì wǒ māma zuò de dàngāo.

    1. What time is the train? It's half past two now.
    2. Three o'clock! I have to run to the station. Goodbye!
    3. Anna, happy New Year! This is a cake my mum made.
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, Anna, happy New Year! This is a cake my mum made..

    You heard 安娜，新年快乐！这是我妈妈做的蛋糕。 (Ānnà, xīnnián kuàilè! Zhè shì wǒ māma zuò de dàngāo.): Anna, happy New Year! This is a cake my mum made.

  7. In context

    It's the first day of the year. What do you say to a friend?

    1. 生日快乐！
    2. 你好吗？
    3. 新年快乐！
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, 新年快乐！.

    新年快乐！: 新年快乐: happy New Year.

  8. Grammar

    Which sentence means please open your book?

    1. 请你的书打开。
    2. 请打开你的书。
    3. 请打开书你的。
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, 请打开你的书。.

    请打开你的书。 打开 + the thing.

  9. Fill the gap

    Complete: Chinese people like red at New Year.

    中国人新年喜欢＿＿。

    1. 红色的
    2. 色红
    3. 红色
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, 红色.

    中国人新年喜欢红色。 喜欢 + a noun.

  10. Word order

    Put the words in order: I have to run to the station.

    • 我
    • 火车站
    • 跑
    • 要
    • 去
    Show the answer

    我要跑去火车站 Wǒ yào pǎo qù huǒchēzhàn.

    I have to run to the station.

    我要跑去火车站。 跑去 + place: run to a place.

New Year wishes

Say out loud what you do at New Year and send a New Year wish to a friend in Chinese.

  1. Wish a happy New Year with 新年快乐！
  2. Say what you eat or give, with 蛋糕 or 红色的….
  3. Say how you go home: 坐火车, and the time.

Sentence frames

  • 新年快乐！这是＿＿。

    Xīnnián kuàilè! Zhè shì ＿＿.

    Happy New Year! This is ...

  • 我＿＿点坐火车回家。

    Wǒ ＿＿ diǎn zuò huǒchē huí jiā.

    I'm going home by train at ...

Record your attempt (three and a half minutes at most) and listen back:

Review and finish

Can you do this? If a line feels shaky, go back to that part before you move on.

  • I can wish someone a happy New Year.
  • I know 打开, 跑 and 火车站, and can read the first HSK 1 stories.
  • I have finished HSK 1 and can review any unit before moving on.

Review works best spaced out: answer these exercises again tomorrow, then after a few days. Your progress is saved in this browser.

Completing records that you finished the lesson. Mastery is separate: it grows as reviews bring the exercises back and you answer them correctly.

You have finished HSK 1. Next: HSK 2 Unit 1: What happened, where you start talking about the past with 了 and 过.