Eating is one of the essentials of life. Now and then we all like to eat certain things; maybe we suddenly want to eat a special vegetable or fruit. Going to the market or the shopping center to shop for groceries is great fun as we can pick exactly what we fancy. Join in the conversation in Mandarin Chinese and select what you feel like eating today!
In this Podcast, you will learn:
(i) To summarise what you want to buy at the market
(ii) How to list down the items of fruit and vegetables you plan to buy
Dialogue:
Two people are making plans to go shopping for groceries:
（在菜市场）
(Zài cài shì chǎng)
(at the food market)
A:咱们买什么菜？
A: Zán men mǎi shén me cài?
What groceries do we need to buy?
B:我列了购物单，有，5头蒜，一块姜，一捆菠菜，20个鸡蛋，半斤小白菜，再来几条黄瓜。
B: Wǒ liè le gòu wù dān, yǒu, 5 tóu suàn, yī kuài jiāng, yī kǔn bō cài, 20 gè jī dàn, bàn jīn xiǎo bái cài, zài lái jǐ tiáo huáng guā.
I have a shopping list. We need five garlic cloves, one piece of ginger, a bunch of spinach, 20 eggs, half a jin of pakchoi and some cucumbers.
A:还要水果么？
A: Hái yào shuǐ guǒ me?
Do we need fruit?
B:哦对，还得买水果。可以来几串葡萄，几个苹果。
B: Ó duì, hái děi mǎi shuǐ guǒ. Kě yǐ lái jǐ chuàn pú táo, jǐ gè píng guǒ.
Oh, yes, we need to buy some fruit. We can buy several bunches of grapes and a few apples.
A:我还想吃西瓜。
A: Wǒ hái xiǎng chī xī guā.
I also want to eat watermelon.
B:行啊，再买一个西瓜。
B: Xíng a, zài mǎi yī gè xī guā.
Sure, buy one watermelon, too.
Chinese words and phrases mentioned in this Podcast:
菜市场：food market
买：buy
菜：literally means: vegetable
买菜：buy groceries, not only refers to buy vegetables
列：verb, list
购物单：shopping list
头：head, measuring word for garlic cloves
瓣：clove
五瓣儿蒜：five cloves of garlic
蒜：garlic
块：piece
姜：ginger
捆：bunch
菠菜：spinach
鸡蛋：egg
斤：jin, measuring word of weight
小白菜：pakchoi
条：a measuring word for any long and slim object
黄瓜：cucumber
再来：and some … more
水果：fruit
串：bunch
葡萄：grape
个：measuring word, used before an approximate number to make the sentence sound informal
苹果：apple
西瓜：watermelon
量词：measuring word
Cultural/Grammar note:
In China, people don’t use ‘pound’ when they buy groceries, they use ‘jin’, which is a traditional Chinese unit of weight. 1 jin is 500 grams (half a kilo).