My father's bookshop

The lesson’s vocabulary

Tone colorsā tone 1á tone 2ǎ tone 3à tone 4a neutralHide colors

• 尽头
  jìntóu

  end; extremity

• 书店
  shūdiàn

  bookstore

• 古典
  gǔdiǎn

  classical

• 诗
  shī

  poem; poetry; verse

• 小说
  xiǎoshuō

  novel; fiction

• 应有尽有
  yīngyǒu-jìnyǒu

  everything that should be here is here (idiom)

• 生意
  shēngyi

  business

• 宁可
  nìngkě

  preferably; one would prefer to...(or not to...)

• 顿
  dùn

  to stop; to pause; to arrange

• 脾气
  píqi

  character; temperament; bad temper

• 劝
  quàn

  to advise; to urge; to try to persuade

• 偏偏
  piānpiān

  as it happened; contrarily; against reason

• 暖气
  nuǎnqì

  central heating; heater; warm air

• 大衣
  dàyī

  overcoat; topcoat; cloak

• 傍晚
  bàngwǎn

  in the evening; when night falls; towards evening

• 推
  tuī

  to push; to cut; to refuse

• 早已
  zǎoyǐ

  for a long time; long since; (dialect) in the past

• 书架
  shūjià

  bookshelf

• 取
  qǔ

  to take; to get; to choose

• 擦
  cā

  to rub; to scratch; to wipe

• 灰
  huī

  ash; dust; lime

• 双手
  shuāng shǒu

  both hands

• 忽然
  hūrán

  suddenly; all of a sudden

• 明白
  míngbai

  clear; obvious; sensible

• 守
  shǒu

  to guard; to defend; to keep watch

• 仅仅
  jǐnjǐn

  barely; only; merely

• 倒是
  dàoshì

  contrary to what one might expect; actually; contrariwise

• 柜台
  guìtái

  sales counter; front desk

• 外国
  wàiguó

  foreign country

The lesson’s grammar

• 宁可…也不/也要…: would rather… than…

  S + 宁可 + A，也不 + B | S + 宁可 + sacrifice，也要 + goal

• 倒: actually, on the contrary

  S + 倒 + V/Adj (contrary to expectation) | Adj 倒是 Adj，就是/可是…

• Using 成语 (four-character idioms)

  成语 = adjective (很+成语 ✗) / adverb (成语 + 地 + V) / predicate / noun modifier (成语 + 的 + N)

• 书面语 vs 口语: written vs spoken register

  口语 → 书面语 : 在→于, 这→此, 他的→其, 是→为, 和→与/及, 没有→无/未, 因为→由于/因

• 偏偏: of all things, stubbornly

  S + 偏偏 + V (against one's wishes / against reason)