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What type of ticket did you buy?

M: Péngy?umen. N?men h?o! Huānyíngshōutīng Xiànzài Xué Hàny?. W? shì ML.

S: Dà jiā h?o. W? shì Stuart. ML has bought our train tickets ML m?i h?o le
w?men de hu?chēpiaò.

M: We're at the train station. W?men zài hu?chēzhàn.

S: ML, what type of ticket did you buy? 你买了哪种票? n? m?i le něi zh?ng piào?

M: 我买了一张硬座票，一张软卧票 w? m?i le yì zhāng yìngzuò piào, yì zhāng ru?n

wò piào.

S: 啊，你坐硬座吗 n? zuò yìngzuòma?

M: You misunderstand 你理解错了 n? l?jiě cuò le.

S: 我怎么理解错了 w? zěnme l?jiě cuò le?

M: 我坐软卧，你坐硬座 w? zuò ru?n wò, n? zuò yìngzuò.

S: There's nothing I can do. 我没办法 w? měi bànfa!

M: Duì le! N? méi bànfa.

M: Ok, time to look at what we said.

S: 曼丽，你买了哪种票? That's easy. ML, you bought what kind of ticket? n? m?i
le něi zh?ng piaò?

M: And note the measure word for ticket, it's zhāng. 我买了一张硬座票，一张软卧
票 w? m?i le yì zhāng yìngzuò piaò, yì zhāng ru?n wò piaò.

S: 啊，你坐硬座吗？N? zuò yìngzuò ma?

M: You misunderstand 你理解错了

S: w? l?jiě cuò le. 理解 LI JIE l? jiě, both third tone, mean to ‘understand' l?jiě.
错 CUO cuò, we know, means ‘wrong'. So, l?jiě cuò le, ‘understand wrongly', to

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‘misunderstand' . Now everybody say, Sorry, I misunderstood.

M: Hěn h?o. 对不起，我理解错了 duì bù q?, w? l?ijiě cuò le.

S: And I said, 我怎么理解错了? 怎么 remember, means ‘how', ‘in what way', as in,
How could I misunderstand, w? zěnme l?jiě cuò le? Say it, w? zěnme l?jiě cuò le?

M: And I said, I go soft sleeper, you go hard seat. 我坐软卧，你坐硬座, w? zuò ru?n
wò, n? zuò yìng zuò. Noticed the verb we use here? Right, it's ‘to sit', zuò. For
Chinese, they ‘sit' almost all kinds of vehicles, 坐火车、坐汽车、坐飞机，etc. And
no matter it's hard seat or soft sleeper, just to ‘sit', zuò.

S: I said, 我没办法. 办法 BAN FA bànfa, means ‘way' or ‘method', bànfa. So ‘w?

méi bànfa' literally means ‘I have no method'. In real English, ‘There's nothing
I can do.' Say it, w? měibànfa, w? měi bànfa. You could also say, w? měiy?u
bànfa, which means exactly the same, yí yàng.

S: To finish, our short chat. 曼丽，你买了哪种票 n? m?i le něi zh?ng piào?

M: 我买了一张硬座票，一张软卧票 w? m?i le yì zhāng yìngzuò piào, yì zhāng ru?n

wò piào.

S: 啊，你坐硬座吗 n? zuò yìngzuò ma?

M: 你理解错了 n? l?jiě cuò le.

S: 我怎么理解错了 w? zěnme l?jiě cuo le?

M: 我坐软卧，你坐硬座 w? zuò ru?n wò, n? zuò yìng zuò.

S: 我没办法 w? měi bànfa!

M: Duì le! N? méi bànfa. Let's go. 我们走吧

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