Key words of the day
passport 护照wallet钱包Stop, thief!  抓小偷! Where’s a police station? 派出所在哪儿？ My bag was stolen 我的包被偷了。What was in it? 包里有什么？ All in today’s Chinese Studio.

B: Although I haven’t had any problems, as yet, it’s better to be safe than sorry, be prepared. So let’s say Y, there he is, stop, thief,
Y: Put your best Chinese tones forward and call out … zhua1 xiao3 tou1.
B: zhua1 xiao3 tou1.
Y: zhua1 means to catch,
B: zhua1,
Y: xiao3 tou1 means thief,
B: xiao3 tou1,
Y: zhua1 xiao3 tou1
B: zhua1 xiao3 tou1, catch a thief,

Conversation 1
A: 抓小偷！
B: 抓小偷！ 别让他跑了。

B: He got away on me.  you know that bag has my passport and wallet in it. Where’s a police station?
Y: That was too bad. Firstly, you should learn how to say this, pai4 chu1 suo3 zai4 na3er? Where’s a police station?
B:  pai4 chu1 suo3 zai4 na3er?
Y:  pai4 chu1 suo3 is a police station,
B: pa4 chu1 suo3,
Y: zai4 na3er literally means at where,
B:  zai4 na3er,
Y:  pai4 chu1 suo3 zai4 na3er?
B:  pai4 chu1 suo3 zai4 na3er?  Where’s a police station?

Conversation 2
A: 我的钱包丢了，请问派出所在哪儿？
B: 往前200米。

B: The jing3 cha2, the police are very efficient, as long as I can tell them what happened. My bag was stolen.
Y: They’ll get the general idea if you say it like this: wo3 de bao1 bei4 tou1 le.
B: wo3 de bao1 bei4 tou1 le.
Y: wo3 de means mine,
B: wo3 de,
Y: bao1 is bag,
B: bao1,
Y: the word “bei4” is used to form a passive verbal phrase, 
B: bei4,
Y: tou1 means steal, 
B: tou1,
Y:  wo3 de bao1 bei4 tou1 le.
B:  wo3 de bao1 bei4 tou1 le. My bag was stolen.

Conversation 3
A: 出什么事了？
B: 我的包被偷了。

B: The police will probably ask something like, what was in your bag?
Y: Yes they will, they want to know包里有什么? What was in it?
B: bao1 li2 you3 shen2 me?
Y: bao1 means bag, and li3 means inside the bag,
B: bao1 li3,
Y: you3 shen2me, literally means have what?
B:  you3 shen2me
Y: bao1 li2 you3 shen2 me?
B: bao1 li2 you3 shen2 me? What was in it?. And to tell them, my passport and wallet?
Y: Remember it’s hu4zhao4, a passport, and a wallet is qian2 bao1,
B:  qian2 bao1,
Y: qian2 means money,
B: qian2,
Y: bao1 means a small flat case,
B: bao1,
Y: qian2 bao1,
 B:qian2 bao1, a wallet,

Conversation 4
A: 包里有什么？
B:  有我的护照和钱包。

B: Sometimes the glass is half empty, and sometimes half full, that little adventure with a thief will teach me to be more careful in future, cos I always like to see the full part of the glass.
Y: Some lessons are harder than others. But we’ve got an easy question today, how do we say, “passport” in Chinese.
B: Let us know by sending an email to Chinese@crifm.com. Don’t forget, there’s a prize at stake as well. Mingtian jian