Key Words of the Day
应该 means should. 去看病,go to see a doctor. 不用, no need; 午饭, lunch; 上网, to be or to go online.All in today’s Chinese Studio.

A: Hey, Yajie, how do you say should in Chinese.
Y: it’s应该
A: 应该. And as with helping verbs in English, the Chinese 应该 usually comes before the main verb in a sentence.
Y: right. here's a handy construction when you want to say a person should do something. It’s the name of the person or a pronoun + 应该 + what they should do. For instance: You should go to see a doctor. 你应该去看病。 Subject, 你, plus 应该, plus看病.
A: 你应该去看病。
              
Conversation 1

A: 你怎么了 (ni zen me le)？What’s wrong with you?
Y: 我有点儿头疼 (wo you dian tou teng)。I have a little bit of a headache.
A: 你应该去看病 (ni ying gai kan bing)。You should go to see a doctor.
Y: 不用, No need.
A: Bu (second tone) yong, no need.
Y: Remember we learned that 不, the fourth tone, should change to 不, the second tone, when it’s followed by another fourth tone character.
A: Got it. So the opposite of should is shouldn’t , which in Chinese is 不应该（bu ying gai) , has 不remaining in the fourth tone.

Conversation 2

Y: 午饭, lunch. 吃午饭, to have lunch. 太晚了. It’s too late. 咱们该吃午饭了. We should have lunch. Remember, 该 is short for 应该。Means should
A: and bu gai is short for bu ying gai, Shouldn’t. 不该再工作了 (bu gai zai gong zuo le)。We shouldn’t continue to work.

Conversation 3

Y: 十二点了. It’s 12 o’clock. 你不应该还上网. You shouldn’t still be online. 上网, to be or go online.
A: 你不应该还上网 (ni bu ying gai hai shang wang).
Y: 你应该去睡觉。You should go to sleep. 去睡觉, go to sleep.
A:  Be sure to remember the construction: Subject + ying gai or bu ying gai + what they should or should not do.Here is another example of (ying gai), should, and (bu ying gai), should not.

Conversation 4 

A:  打扫 means to clean.
Y: 房间 (fang jian), room. 打扫房间, to clean the room.
A: But it’s a waste to 打扫房间 (da sao fang jian) today, as the weather is so good. 天气这么好 (tian qi zhe me hao). The weather is so good.
Y: So we shouldn’t clean the room. 我们不应该打扫房间 (wo men bu ying gai da sao fang jian). 我们应该去游泳。游泳, to swim. 我们应该去游泳. We should go swimming.Well, that's it for today. Today’s question is how to say, “You should go online.”
A: Send your answer to Chinese@crifm.com. And don’t forget to tune into Chinese Studio same time tomorrow. This is Allen. Zai jian.
Y: And this is Yajie. Ming tian jian.

(Written by Wang Anjing)