Sometimes the best connections happen when we’re just trying to get from point A to point B. In this quick dialogue, we join Li Ming (李明) on a train ride that turns into something more than just a commute.
李明坐在火车上。他看着窗外。
旁边坐着一个女人。她问：”你好，你去哪里？”
“我去北京，”李明说。”你呢？”
女人笑了。”我也去北京！”
“真的吗？”李明说。”你去北京做什么？”
“我去看我妈妈，”女人说。”你呢？”
“我去工作，”李明说。
“你是第一次去北京吗？”女人问。
“是的，”李明说。”我不认识路。”
“没关系，”女人说。”我认识。我可以帮你。”
“谢谢你！”李明说。
两个人聊了很长时间。火车到北京的时候，他们已经是朋友了。
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 火车 | huǒchē | train |
| 窗外 | chuāngwài | outside the window |
| 旁边 | pángbiān | next to; beside |
| 北京 | běijīng | Beijing |
| 认识 | rènshi | to know; to recognize |
| 没关系 | méiguānxi | no problem; it doesn’t matter |
| 帮 | bāng | to help |
| 聊 | liáo | to chat |
| 李 | lí | plum; surname Li |
| 明 | Míng | Ming Dynasty (1368–1644); surname Ming; Ming (c. 2000 BC), fourth of the legendary Flame Emperors, 炎帝[Yan2 di4] descended from Shennong 神農|神农[Shen2 nong2] Farmer God |
| 坐 | Zuò | surname Zuo |
| 在 | zài | to exist; to be alive; (of sb or sth) to be (located) at; (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress) |
| 上 | shǎng | used in 上聲|上声[shang3 sheng1] |
| 他 | tā | (third-person singular) (since the early 20th century, usu. male) he; him; his; (bound form) other; another; some other (as in 他日[ta1 ri4] and 他人[ta1 ren2]) |
| 看 | kān | to look after; to take care of; to watch; to guard |
| 着 | zhāo | variant of 著|着[zhao1]; a move in chess (Taiwan pr. [zhuo2]); trick; tactic; (dialect) okay; all right; (dialect) to put in; to add |
| 一个 | yī ge | a; an; one; the whole (afternoon, summer vacation etc) |
| 女人 | nu:3 rén | woman |
| 她 | tā | she |
| 问 | wèn | to ask; to inquire |
| 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.) |
| 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); (… |
| 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);… |
| 哪 | nǎ | how; which |
| 里 | lǐ | variant of 裡|里[li3]; lining; interior; inside; internal; also written 裏|里[li3]; surname Li |
| 我去 | wǒ qù | (slang) what the ...!; oh my god!; that's insane! |
| 说 | shuì | to persuade; variant of 說|说[shuo1] |
| 呢 | ne | (sentence-final particle) used in questions to link back to prior discourse or context ("what about...?", "and...?"); (sentence-final particle) indicating that a state or situation… |
| 笑 | xiào | old variant of 笑[xiao4]; to laugh; to smile; to laugh at |
| 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 |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 也 | Yě | surname Ye |
| 真的 | zhēn de | really; truly; indeed; real; true; genuine; (math.) proper |
| 吗 | má | (coll.) what? |
| 做 | zuò | to make; to produce; to write; to compose; to do; to engage in; to hold (a party etc); (of a person) to be (an intermediary, a good student etc); to become (husband and wife, frien… |
| 什 | shén | what |
| 么 | má | exclamatory final particle; variant of 麼|么[me5] |
| 妈妈 | mā ma | mama; mommy; mother; CL:個|个[ge4],位[wei4] |
| 工作 | gōng zuò | to work; (of a machine) to operate; job; work; task; CL:個|个[ge4],份[fen4],項|项[xiang4] |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only); correct; right; true; (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well; (adverb for emphatic assertion); variant of 是[shi4] |
| 第 | dì | (prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六[di4 liu4] "sixth"); (literary) grades in which successful candidates in the imperial examinations were placed; (old) residence of a high… |
| 一次 | yī cì | first; first time; once; (math.) linear (of degree one) |
| 是的 | shì de | yes, that's right; variant of 似的[shi4 de5] |
| 不 | bù | no; not so; (bound form) not; un- |
| 路 | Lù | surname Lu |
| 可以 | kě yǐ | can; may; possible; able to; not bad; pretty good |
| 谢谢 | xiè xie | to thank; thanks; thank you |
| 两 | liǎng | two; both; some; a few; tael, unit of weight equal to 50 grams (modern) or 1⁄16 of a catty 斤[jin1] (old) |
| 个人 | gè rén | an individual; oneself; (attributive) personal; one's own |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element) |
| 长 | cháng | long; (bound form) length; (bound form) strong point; forte; (bound form) to be good at; (literary) surplus; spare (Taiwan pr. [zhang4]) |
| 时间 | shí jiān | (concept of) time; (duration of) time; (point in) time |
| 到 | dào | to reach; to arrive; to leave for; to go to; to (a place); until (a time); up to (a point); (verb complement indicating arriving at a place or reaching a point); considerate; thoug… |
| 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… |
| 时 | shí | old variant of 時|时[shi2]; surname Shi |
| 候 | hòu | to wait; to inquire after; to watch; season; climate; (old) period of five days |
| 们 | men | plural marker for pronouns, and nouns referring to individuals |
| 已经 | yǐ jīng | already |
| 朋友 | péng you | friend; CL:個|个[ge4],位[wei4] |
Li Ming sat on the train. He looked out the window.
A woman was sitting next to him. She asked: ‘Hello, where are you going?’
‘I’m going to Beijing,’ Li Ming said. ‘What about you?’
The woman smiled. ‘I’m also going to Beijing!’
‘Really?’ Li Ming said. ‘What are you going to Beijing for?’
‘I’m going to see my mother,’ the woman said. ‘What about you?’
‘I’m going for work,’ Li Ming said.
‘Is this your first time going to Beijing?’ the woman asked.
‘Yes,’ Li Ming said. ‘I don’t know the way.’
‘No problem,’ the woman said. ‘I know it. I can help you.’
‘Thank you!’ Li Ming said.
The two of them chatted for a long time. When the train arrived in Beijing, they were already friends.