Who Stole My Subtitles

About

This is not a lesson about the disappointment we felt on buying a copy of The Matrix Reloaded at our

local DVD store back in 2003 only to end up watching a pirated copy of Johnny Mnemonic (the dolphin

scene was especially excruciating the second time around). But it's pretty close. Because sometimes

you'll find a good movie, only to find it completely unwatchable because the subtitles are all in Russian.

So our Chinese lesson for today is about living with disappointment, but only in part. It's also about

learning different ways to ask simple questions, so if you're sick of ending every question with the sound

"ma", you're going to love what we do today. So go ahead and make some popcorn and hit play. You'll

be an elementary student in no-time, and will have some popcorn in the meanwhile. Try doing that in a

physical classroom.

Sentences

你听得懂吗?

nǐ tīngdedǒng ma ?

Do you understand?

听不懂。

tīngbùdǒng 。

I don't understand.

它们有没有中文字幕?

tāmen yǒu méiyǒu zhōngwén zìmù ?

Do they have Chinese subtitles?

没有。

méiyǒu 。

No.

妈的。

māde 。

Damn.

Vocabulary

你

nǐ

you

pronoun

有

yǒu

to have

verb

没有

méiyǒu

not to have

verb

有没有

yǒu méiyǒu

to have or not to have

question

中文字幕

zhōngwén zìmù

Chinese subtitles

noun

吗

ma

(question particle)

question