Top 10 Phrases Your Parents Always Say In Chinese

Tutorial Transcript

Hi! My name is Rui. Welcome to Chinese Top Words. Today, we are going to cover top 10 phrases your parents will always say. 小心。 (Xiǎoxīn.) “Be careful.” The first one - 小心。 (Xiǎoxīn.) “Be careful.” Yeah, I think my parents always say that when I was a kid, 小心。 (Xiǎoxīn.) “Be careful.” Or when going abroad to study, yeah, they always say that in the phone like, 小心。 (Xiǎoxīn.) 别吵了。 (Bié chǎo le.) “Be quiet.” 要乖。 (Yào guāi.) “Be good” At my age now, my parents do not say it to me anymore. It’s more like words to say to younger kids. 快去写作业。 (Kuài qù xiě zuòyè.) “Go do your homework!” Yeah, this is often, I overhear that. I heard it every day, maybe in my school days. Actually if you’re in China, you say - 快去 (kuài qù), 快去 (kuài qù). 快去 (Kuài qù) is “quick”. 去 (qù) is “go”, to do something. Chinese are more impatient, maybe. I don’t know but we say that often like 快去 (kuài qù), 快去洗澡 (kuài qù xǐzǎo) “Go do take shower.”, 快去吃饭 (kuài qù chīfàn) “Go have a dinner”. It’s like pushing you to do something fast, 快去 (kuài qù), 快去 (kuài qù). 睡觉去。 (Shuìjiào qù.) “Go to bed.” Don’t watch TV anymore, go to bed. 不要再看电视了，快去睡觉。 (Bùyào zài kàn diànshìle, kuài qù shuìjiào.) 睡觉去。 (Shuìjiào qù.) 我数三下。 (Wǒ shǔ sān xià.) “I'm going to count to three.” This is a very old saying. I’m not sure if modern Chinese parents are still doing that. Maybe to small kids, not to me. 好了好了。 (Hǎo le hǎo le.) “Ok, that's it.” I think you can use it when you're fighting with your date like you want to close a discussion, you want to close (end) a fight. You will say, oh okay, 好了好了 (hǎo le hǎo le) “ok, ok, that's it”, it’s my fault. “Ok, ok, that’s it” 好了好了 (hǎo le hǎo le), it’s your fault. Ok, ok, I’m sorry, 好了好了。 (hǎo le hǎo le), it’s my fault, just like that. 你说什么？ (Nǐ shuō shénme?) “What did you say?” As a kid, if I said something really bad, really, I intentionally say something bad, intentionally make my parents angry, like, I don’t want to study math, I don’t like math, so what. It’s like I just said whatever I wanted, and my parents will get so mad and they will say, “What did you say?” 你说什么？ (Nǐ shuō shénme?). They feel surprised that I will say something I already know was bad, so they will be asking me to repeat it and at that time I will be silent. Of course, I’m not going to say it again. 你这孩子怎么这么不听话? (Nǐ zhè háizi zěnme zhème bù tīnghuà?) “Why do you have to be a bad kid that never listens?” Yeah, this is often said in China. What?! Yes, yes, even now. I heard it sometimes from my parents. If I don’t do something that they wish or such as which is socially considered as good, but I don’t do it, they will say, “Oh, why do you have to be a bad kid that never listens?”. 把电视关了。 (Bǎ diànshì guānle.) “Turn the TV off now.” Yeah, I heard it often. I love to watch TV from my childhood until now, yeah. That’s why I heard it often from my parents. Thank you for watching today’s Chinese Top Words. Let us know what your parents always say to you. I will check it in our comments and I will see you next time. Bye!