Learning : Where Is The Restaurant
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Pooshybooshy

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2007-10-09
Language : None
Posts : 12
Responses : 28
Comments : 44
 Pooshybooshy hotmail.com 
2007-10-30 / 01:33PM

Ni3 hao3 Benny. Starbucks will definitely be one of the first places I will look for in Shanghai. I have a question regarding the last phrase, though… I think it translates as “We go!” but what I’m wondering is… I looked up zou and ba in a Chinese dictionary, and they both came up with the same definition – when I type “zou ba” it doesn’t come up with one. So why do we say “zou ba” rather than just say zou or ba on their own?

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editorbenny

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2007-07-25
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Posts : 0
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 Benny bennysland.com 
2007-10-31 / 09:53AM

Actually, 吧(ba) doesn’t mean “go” at all. If we put it at the end of a sentence, then it becomes an imperative sentence, to ask somebody to do something. So “let’s go”, we say “zou3 ba”.

another example:

Let’s go for a drink = wo3 men2 qu4 he1 yi1 bei1 ba.

Let me tell you another meaning of 吧(ba1): it means “bar” sometimes. Take a look at this sentence:

Wo3 xiang3 qu4 pao4 ba1 = I want to go to the bar

Here, “pao4 ba1” is a phrase, meaing “go to the bar” or “hanging out in the bar”. It’s a quite new phrase. If somebody says “pao4 ba1” 10 years ago in China, no one would understand. Remember that, I’m sure you will use it often.

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Pooshybooshy

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2007-10-09
Language : None
Posts : 12
Responses : 28
Comments : 44
 Pooshybooshy hotmail.com 
2007-11-06 / 10:22AM

Xie4 xie, Benny. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to get the time to go to Bennysland much recently. I have yet another question I’m curious about…

Sometimes you say yao4 for want, but sometimes you say xiang3. What is the difference between the two, and would it make sense to say “Wo3 yao4 qu4 pao4 ba1” instead?

Xia4 ci4 jin4 Benny.

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editorbenny

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2007-07-25
Language : None
Posts : 0
Responses : 2
Comments : 128
 benny bennysland.com 
2007-11-07 / 11:10AM

Hi.pooshybooshy,nice to hear you again.

Actually,when you put a verb after xiang3 or yao4.they both mean want to do something.And yao4 is more direct ,xiang3 has the mean “would like”.

But if you put a noun after xiang3 or yao4,they are totally different.yao4 plus anoun still means want something.But xiang3 plus a noun means miss something or think of something.

Here are two examples:
A:WO yao4 chi kao ya is same to wo xiang3 chi kao ya.
B:wo xiang3 jia means i miss my family.wo yao4 jia means i want a family.

Hope it can answer you question.

If you have any questions,come to benny,we are here.xia ci jian

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Pooshybooshy

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2007-10-09
Language : None
Posts : 12
Responses : 28
Comments : 44
 Pooshybooshy hotmail.com 
2007-11-15 / 01:54AM

Thank you, Benny. It certainly does answer my question – when you said xiang3 was a less direct way of saying it, I wondered why you say “Wo yao ka fei”. Now I know. It wouldn’t quite make sense, unless I just really, really missed coffee. :p

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editorbenny

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2007-07-25
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Comments : 128
 Benny bennysland.com 
2007-11-15 / 10:23AM

You are always welcome, Pooshybooshy, :)

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uche

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2007-12-25
Language : None
Posts : 0
Responses : 1
Comments : 8
 uche yahoo.com 
2008-02-11 / 01:46AM

Benny, i’m confused with this lesson..the last phrase. Zou and ba. i think i alwys heard my friends sayin "wo men zou le not ba?

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JenSuzhou

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2008-05-30
Language : English
Posts : 0
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 Jennifer hotmail.com 
2008-08-17 / 10:06PM

“le” is past tense, and “ba” is a suggestion.
saying “wo men zou le” means ‘we went’, whereas “wo men zou ba” means ’let’s go’

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WMAKF

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2008-08-09
Language : None
Posts : 2
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Comments : 3
 Michael Wilder live.com 
2008-09-16 / 06:48AM

When should you use zou3 and not qu4? Does zou3 mean to leave while qu4 simply means to go?

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Dawe

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2008-10-23
Language : None
Posts : 1
Responses : 1
Comments : 8
 Johnny yahoo.com 
2008-11-01 / 07:09PM

oh no. . .a bit complicated. . .

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Dawe

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2008-10-23
Language : None
Posts : 1
Responses : 1
Comments : 8
 Johnny yahoo.com 
2008-11-01 / 07:23PM

hello prof benny. ..

uhm what is xia ci jian?

what is “have a wonderful day ahead” in mandarin? (well, thats for you. . .haha!)

Xie xie! Zai Jian!

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wimbledimple

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2009-05-31
Language : None
Posts : 1
Responses : 1
Comments : 1
 Norleen Sernias yahoo.com 
2009-06-09 / 04:49PM

Ni hao Sir Benny.. I’m quite new here.. Your site is really great.. xie xie ni.. It really helps me to learn mandarin even more and enjoy it as well… Zaijian

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huaweiwang1981

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2009-06-18
Language : Mandarin Chinese
Posts : 3
Responses : 66
Comments : 4
 wei hotmail.com 
2009-07-10 / 07:06PM
To : Johnny

xia ci means next time , zai jie means byebye .so xia ci zai jian is "see you next time "

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monmon

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2009-08-25
Language : None
Posts : 17
Responses : 2
Comments : 22
 monmon yahoo.com 
2009-08-26 / 03:58PM

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.its funny louie dont know the meaning of women zou ba

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newtype

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2009-06-18
Language : English, Japanese
Posts : 2
Responses : 24
Comments : 16
 mobilesuit gmail.com 
2009-08-27 / 02:46PM
To : monmon

Thanks for teaching me that

竹内

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NigelConnor

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2009-11-10
Language : English
Posts : 7
Responses : 16
Comments : 7
 NigelConnor hotmail.com 
2009-11-15 / 06:29AM
To : monmon

I think it means we go

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saxondean

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2008-10-07
Language : None
Posts : 0
Responses : 1
Comments : 2
 Christopher Oung saxondean.co.uk 
2010-01-21 / 05:24PM
To : NigelConnor

“Ba” as opposed to “ma”;

Women zou ma? = shall we go?
Women zou ba = OK, let’s go (now).

Women he ma? = shall we drink?
Women he ba = OK, let’s drink (now)

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Ruru

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2009-07-07
Language : English, Spanish
Posts : 0
Responses : 0
Comments : 1
 Ruru gmail.com 
2010-01-22 / 01:52AM

Can you also say women qu ba
instead of women zou ba ?

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joey

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2008-09-23
Language : English, Mandarin Chinese
Posts : 1
Responses : 80
Comments : 8
 Joey askbenny.net 
2010-01-22 / 10:23AM
To : Ruru

Hello Ruru

I think there is little difference between ‘wǒ mén zǒu ba’ and wǒ mé qù ba,
so you cannot use ‘wǒ mé qù ba’ instead of ‘wǒ mén zǒu ba’ every time.



Learn Chinese, Speak Mandarin.

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comwyz

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2010-07-04
Language : English
Posts : 0
Responses : 0
Comments : 9
 comwyz hotmail.com 
2010-08-24 / 12:38PM
To : Ruru

Hello Ruru

I guess the easiest way to explain the difference between zǒu and qù is,
qù = to go somewhere specific e.g. “wǒ xiǎng qù kāfēidiàn. I want to go to the coffee shop.”,
zǒu = is to go e.g. “wǒ zǒu yi zǒu. I am going for a walk.”

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word20

Chinese Mandarin :Chinese Mandarin Level
Registered on : 2013-05-19
Language : None
Posts : 0
Responses : 0
Comments : 32
 Giorgio gmail.com 
2013-05-21 / 01:36AM

下次再见。下次再見.

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