Generated by Bing AI, prompt by Wonjoon Jun

[Place holder for media]

Text Recording

Downloadable Text with Pinyin and Annotation

Pinyin and English Annotation Unit 3.2 Pinyin and English

Reading Exercise

Sentence Structure

怎么

Meaning:

怎么 means “How” .It is used to ask how something is done or how something happens.

When to Use:

• To indicate that the list is incomplete and there are more items in the same category.
• Often appears at the end of a list of items or actions.
• Used in casual or spoken Chinese, making the sentence less formal.

Structure: Subject + 怎么 + Verb + (Object)

Examples:

• 你怎么去学校？
  Nǐ zěnme qù xuéxiào?
  → How do you go to school?
• 这个字怎么写？
  Zhè ge zì zěnme xiě?
  → How do you write this character?

 怎么also is used to ask why in an informal or curious way (less formal than 为什么).

Structure: Subject + 怎么 + Verb/Object?

Examples:

• 你怎么不去？
  Nǐ zěnme bù qù?
  → Why aren’t you going?
• 他怎么还没来？
  Tā zěnme hái méi lái?
  → Why hasn’t he come yet?

如果

Meaning:

如果 means “if.” It is used to introduce a hypothetical condition that leads to a result. It functions similarly to “if… then…” in English.

When to Use:

• To express a condition and its consequence
• Commonly used in both spoken and written Chinese
• Often paired with 就 (jiù) in the result clause, though 就 is sometimes optional in casual speech

Structure:

如果 + condition (clause), 就 + result (clause)

Examples:

1. 如果你想喝别的饮料，你需要扫码买。
   Rúguǒ nǐ xiǎng hē bié de yǐnliào, nǐ xūyào sǎomǎ mǎi.
   –If you want to drink other beverages, you need to scan the QR code to buy them.
2. 每天进公司大楼的时候，要用员工卡。
   Měitiān jìn gōngsī dàlóu de shíhòu, yào yòng yuángōng kǎ.
   Meaning: When entering the company building every day, you need to use an employee card

Grammar Practice

ions

Translation Exercise