In this quick dialogue, a little girl asks her dad for swimming lessons.
女儿：爸爸，我想学游泳！
爸爸：好啊！你为什么想学？
女儿：因为我的朋友们都会游泳。
爸爸：那我们明天去游泳吧。
女儿：可是，爸爸，水很冷吗？
爸爸：不冷，水很好。你不要怕。
女儿：好的！爸爸会教我吗？
爸爸：会的。我们一起学，很快你就会了！
女儿：太好了！谢谢爸爸！
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 游泳 | yóu yǒng | to swim |
| 女儿 | nǚ ér | daughter |
| 爸爸 | bà bà | father, dad |
| 朋友 | péng yǒu | friend |
| 明天 | míng tiān | tomorrow |
| 冷 | lěng | cold |
| 怕 | pà | to be afraid |
| 教 | jiāo | to teach |
| 一起 | yì qǐ | together |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 想 | xiǎng | to think (about); to think of; to devise; to think (that); to believe (that); to desire; to want (to); to miss (feel wistful about the absence of) |
| 学 | xué | to learn; to study; to imitate; science; -ology |
| 好 | hǎo | good; appropriate; proper; all right!; (before a verb) easy to; (before a verb) good to; (before an adjective for exclamatory effect) so; (verb complement indicating completion); (… |
| 啊 | ā | interjection of surprise; Ah!; Oh! |
| 你 | nǐ | you (informal, as opposed to courteous 您[nin2]); you (Note: In Taiwan, 妳 is used to address females, but in mainland China, it is not commonly used. Instead, 你 is used to address both males and females.) |
| 为 | wéi | as (in the capacity of); to take sth as; to act as; to serve as; to behave as; to become; to be; to do; by (in the passive voice); variant of 為|为[wei2] |
| 什 | shén | what |
| 么 | má | exclamatory final particle; variant of 麼|么[me5] |
| 因为 | yīn wèi | because; owing to; on account of |
| 的 | de | of; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis); (used after a noun, verb or adjective to… |
| 们 | men | plural marker for pronouns, and nouns referring to individuals |
| 都会 | dū huì | city; metropolis |
| 那 | Nā | surname Na |
| 去 | qù | to go; to go to (a place); (of a time etc) last; just passed; to send; to remove; to get rid of; to reduce; to be apart from in space or time; to die (euphemism); to play (a part);… |
| 吧 | bā | bar (loanword) (serving drinks, or providing Internet access etc); to puff (on a pipe etc); (onom.) bang; abbr. for 貼吧|贴吧[tie1 ba1] |
| 可是 | kě shì | but; however; (used for emphasis) indeed |
| 水 | Shuǐ | surname Shui; Shui ethnic group |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element) |
| 吗 | má | (coll.) what? |
| 不 | bù | no; not so; (bound form) not; un- |
| 不要 | bù yào | don't!; must not |
| 会 | huì | can; to have the skill; to know how to; to be likely to; to be sure to; to meet; to get together; meeting; gathering; (suffix) union; group; association; (bound form) a moment (Tai… |
| 快 | kuài | rapid; quick; speed; rate; soon; almost; to make haste; clever; sharp (of knives or wits); forthright; plainspoken; gratified; pleased; pleasant |
| 就 | jìu | (after a suppositional clause) in that case; then; (after a clause of action) as soon as; immediately after; (same as 就是[jiu4 shi4]) merely; nothing else but; simply; just; precise… |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker); (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now); (modal particle intensifying preceding clause); (bound form) clear in one's mind; to understand clearly |
| 太好了 | tài hǎo le | very good |
| 谢谢 | xiè xie | to thank; thanks; thank you |
Daughter: Dad, I want to learn swimming!
Dad: Great! Why do you want to learn?
Daughter: Because all my friends can swim.
Dad: Then let’s go swimming tomorrow.
Daughter: But Dad, is the water very cold?
Dad: Not cold, the water is nice. Don’t be afraid.
Daughter: Okay! So you’ll teach me?
Dad: Yes. We’ll learn together, and soon you’ll know how!
Daughter: Excellent! Thanks Dad!