 B: After all that snack food last week, I’ve hit a little snag. Dajia hao, hello everyone, wo shi B.
Y: wo shi Y, and this is Chinese Studio, where you can improve your Chinese every day. What’s the problem B?
B: Serves me right I guess, those snacks were too much of a good thing, and I’ve broken one of my teeth.
Y: Ok, no arguing, we’re off to see the wonderful dentist in Beijing.
Key words of the day
Tooth/teeth 牙，I need to see a dentist. 我要看牙医。I lost a tooth. 我掉了颗牙。I don’t want the tooth pulled out. 我不想拔牙. All in today’s Chinese Studio.
Y: That was a little bit of bad luck B, our teeth are precious things. In Chinese we call them ya2, and that has nothing to do with my name Yajie.
B: Ya4, tooth or teeth, and what do we call the tooth doctor, the dentist?
Y: That’s a ya2 yi1.
B: ya2 yi1.
Y: yi1 is short for yi1 sheng1, and it means doctor,
B: yi1,
Y: ya2 yi1.
B: ya2 yi1. dentist. So, I need to see a ya2 yi1.
Y: People won’t understand that B, try this instead. Wo3 yao4 kan4 ya2 yi1.
B: Wo3 yao4 kan4 ya2 yi1
Y: wo3 yao4 means I need to do something,
B: wo3 yao4,
Y: kan4 means to see,
B: kan4,
Y: ya2 yi1, the dentist,
B: ya2 yi1,
Y: Wo3 yao4 kan4 ya2 yi1
B: Wo3 yao4 kan4 ya2 yi1 I need to see a dentist.
Conversation 1
A: 我要看牙医。需要预约吗？
B: 不需要，直接去就可以了。
Y: So here we are at the yiyuan, the hospital which is where the dentists usually work.
B: Those guys in the white coats look as though they mean business. I want to say, I lost a tooth.
Y: Okay, you can say: 我掉了颗牙。
B: wo3 diao4 le ke1 ya2.
Y: diao4 means lost,
B: diao4,
Y: ke1 is the measure word for tooth. Here it’s short for yi4 ke1, which means one,
B: ke1,
Y: ya2 is tooth,
B: ya2,
Y: wo3 diao4 le ke1 ya2.
B: wo3 diao4 le ke1 ya2. I lost a tooth.
Conversation 2
A: 大夫, 我掉了颗牙。
B: 让我看看。
B: Time to hop on that torture chair, and I’d like to tell ya2 yi1, the dentist, I don’t want my tooth pulled out.
Y: You could use sign language, but better still, say this, wo3 bu4 xiang3 ba2 ya2.
B: wo3 bu4 xiang3 ba2 ya2.
Y: bu4 xiang3 means don’t want something,
B: bu4 xiang3,
Y: ba2 ya2 means to pull out the tooth,
B: ba2 ya2,
Y: wo3 bu4 xiang3 ba2 ya2.
B: wo3 bu4 xiang3 ba2 ya2. I don’t want the tooth pulled out.
Conversation 3
A: 我不想拔牙。
B: 没事，不疼的。
B: The panic is over, and the pain is yet to come. I need to think of something else. How bout today’s question Y?
Y: Hao zhuyi, good idea, remind us how to say, “toothbrush” in Chinese.
B: And you can send us the correct answer in an email to Chinese@crifm.com. Mingtian jian.
Y: Mingtian jian.
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