HSK 3Lesson 32
On a cold December Wednesday Xiaoxue needs four runners for her year's relay at the sports meet, but she only has three. You will follow her from the dorm to the library to the school gate, where a small boy settles the argument.
You will learn to talk about campus news, a sports meet and school life, and to say that whether something happens does not matter.
Part 1 · 10 new words
Contains 5 words
campus
sports meet
to take part in; to join
library
news
Contains 5 words
to finish school for the day
class (group of students)
Part 2 · 8 phrases
我在校园新闻里看到，这个星期六有运动会。
I saw in the campus news that there is a sports meet this Saturday.
每个年级都要参加运动会，我们年级有四个人去。
Every year has to take part in the sports meet, and our year is sending four people.
考试以前，我们常常在图书馆复习到晚上。
Before exams we often revise in the library until the evening.
我们一年级有四个班级，每个班级三十个人。
Our first year has four classes, each with thirty people.
放学以后，很多小学生在学校门口等爸爸妈妈。
After school, lots of primary-school kids wait for their parents at the gate.
我们班男生爱踢球，女生爱跳舞。
Part 3 · 4 conversations
In the dorm Xiaoxue reads the campus news to Annie: a sports meet is on Saturday, and her year needs four runners. Annie would rather stay somewhere warm.
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
安妮，你看校园新闻：星期六有运动会！
Annie, look at the campus news: there's a sports meet on Saturday!
安妮Annie
星期六？太冷了！
Saturday? It's too cold!
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
Part 4 · 1 point
主谓短语作主语
A subject-and-verb clause can stand where the subject goes: 你来不来没关系nǐ lái bu lái méi guānxi.
Make a clause the subject
A clause with its own subject and verb is followed by a comment about it.
Xiaoxue tells Annie 你跑得快不快没关系nǐ pǎo de kuài bu kuài méi guānxi: whether she is fast doesn't matter.
In sentences
school year; grade
boy; male student
girl; female student
In our class the boys love soccer and the girls love dancing.
他总是迟到，今天又迟到了，老师很生气。
He is always late, and he was late again today, so the teacher is angry.
你来不来没关系，我们都会等你。
It doesn't matter whether you come; we'll all wait for you.
我们年级要跑步，四个人，每人跑一段。现在才三个人参加。
Our year has a running race, four people, each running one leg. So far only three have signed up.
安妮Annie
你别看我，我不跑。我跑得很慢。
Don't look at me, I'm not running. I'm really slow.
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
你跑得快不快没关系，你来了，我们才有四个人。
Whether you're fast doesn't matter. If you come, we have four people.
安妮Annie
可是我今天想去图书馆，那儿不冷。
But today I want to go to the library, where it isn't cold.
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
那我下午去图书馆找你，你等着我！
Then I'll come find you at the library this afternoon, so wait for me!
In the library Xiaoxue finds Annie with the year's list: three names, and the fourth runner is still missing.
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
我就知道你在图书馆！
I knew you'd be in the library!
安妮Annie
我在看书呢，你有事吗？
I'm reading. Do you need something?
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
有！这是我们年级的名单，三个人，第四个还没有。白家月说她参加，可是她总是迟到。
Yes! This is our year's list, three names, and the fourth is missing. Jiayue says she'll take part, but she's always late.
安妮Annie
她能来吗？
Can she even make it?
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
她每次都说“我一会儿就到”，然后让我们等半个小时。
Every time she says "I'll be there in a minute" and then makes us wait half an hour.
安妮Annie
那你再问问别的班级吧。
Then ask the other classes.
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
我问过了，别的班级的人参加不参加，现在还不清楚。
I asked. Whether people from the other classes will take part, we don't know yet.
At four o'clock Xiaodong comes out of school and waits at the school gate for his mother. Xiaoxue and Annie are arguing over who should run first, and he joins in.
小东Xiaodong
安妮姐姐，还有这位姐姐！我放学了，正在等妈妈。你们在做什么呢？
Annie, and this big sister! School's out and I'm waiting for my mom. What are you doing?
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
我们在找人参加运动会。男生说他们先跑，女生也说她们先跑。
We're looking for people for the sports meet. The boys say they run first, and the girls say they run first.
小东Xiaodong
那谁高，谁就先跑，不行吗？
So the tallest runs first, isn't that okay?
安妮Annie
小东说得对。可是我们才三个人，还差一个。
Xiaodong's right. But we only have three people, and one more is missing.
王一雪Wang Yixue
我来了！名单呢？我来写名字。
I'm here! Where's the list? I'll write the names.
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
一雪，你的腿最长，你来跑第四段吧！
Yixue, you've got the longest legs. You run the fourth leg!
王一雪Wang Yixue
什么？我只是来写名单的！
What? I only came to write the list!
Jiayue arrives twenty minutes late with a snack. Yixue discovers that she has been made the fourth runner, and Xiaodong offers to hand out the water.
白家月Bai Jiayue
对不起对不起，我来晚了！我在路上买了面包，你们要不要？
Sorry, sorry, I'm late! I bought some bread on the way. Want some?
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
你又迟到了！
You're late again!
白家月Bai Jiayue
我真的在路上啊。不是我跑第四段吗？一雪怎么也在这儿？
I was really on my way. Isn't it me running the fourth leg? Why is Yixue here too?
王一雪Wang Yixue
我是来写名单的，可是她们让我跑第四段！
I came to write the list, and they made me run the fourth leg!
小东Xiaodong
一雪姐姐跑，我给你们发水，行不行？
Yixue runs and I'll hand out water to you all. Is that okay?
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
行，小东，发水的事就是你的了。白家月，你来晚了，第四段是一雪的，你的面包给大家吃吧！
Sure, Xiaodong, handing out the water is your job. Jiayue, you're late, so the fourth leg is Yixue's. Share your bread with everyone!
王一雪Wang Yixue
我的名单上没有我自己的名字！
My own name isn't on the list!
With A不A
你来不来没关系。
It doesn't matter whether you come.
A不A (A bu A) gives the "whether" meaning.
With a plain clause
你能来，我们很高兴。
That you can come makes us happy.
The clause is the subject, and 很高兴hěn gāoxìng is the comment.
他不来没关系，我们可以先开始。
It's all right if he doesn't come; we can start first.
A：明天你去不去？ B：我去不去都行，你们决定吧。
A: Are you going tomorrow? B: Whether I go or not is fine; you decide.
你每天锻炼，对身体很好。
Your exercising every day is good for your health.
老师来不来，现在还不清楚。
Whether the teacher will come isn't clear yet.
孩子们跑得快不快不重要，参加最重要。
How fast the kids run isn't important; taking part is what matters.
In Chinese a short clause, with its own subject and predicate, can itself be the subject of a longer sentence. The clause comes first, and the comment that follows is usually about how it matters or feels: 没关系méi guānxi, 很重要hěn zhòngyào, 很高兴hěn gāoxìng, 不清楚bù qīngchu, 对身体好duì shēntǐ hǎo. So 你来不来nǐ lái bu lái, "whether you come", is the topic, and 没关系méi guānxi is the comment. The clause often has a question form such as A不A (nǐ lái bu lái) with the meaning "whether or not". The key constraint is that the clause stays complete, so do not drop its subject. Compare 你去没关系nǐ qù méi guānxi, "it is fine for you to go", with 你去不去没关系nǐ qù bu qù méi guānxi, "whether you go does not matter". Note also what A不A asks: ✓ 你来不来没关系nǐ lái bu lái méi guānxi is "whether you come, it doesn't matter", while ✓ 你不来没关系nǐ bù lái méi guānxi is "if you don't come, it's fine".
