Lesson 7: Hobbies

Before continuing with this week’s lesson, check out Lesson 6: Discussing Likes and Dislikes.

Everyone has something special that they love to do, even if it is something that they are embarrassed to share with the world. It could be anything from dressing-up as Yoda and heading to a Star Wars convention, sitting on the couch with a game on, painting toy models or fishing. The possibilities are endless. Personally, I love martial arts, pretty much anything outdoors and of course, video games! What’s your secret passion that eats-up all of your free time? But first, a quick question. How do you say “I like reading novels” in Chinese? What’s 我不喜歡塞車 mean?

Common Hobbies:

1. hiking 爬山 pá shān

2. rafting 泛舟 fàn zhōu

3. blogging 寫部落格 xiĕ bù luò gé

4. making DIY crafts 做DIY/做手工東西 zuò DIY/zuò shŏu gōng dōng xī

5. learning martial arts 學無術 xué wú shù

6. doing yoga 做瑜伽 zuò yú jiā

7. playing music 玩音樂 wán yīny uè

8. collecting comic books 收集漫畫書 shōu jí màn huà shū

9. cooking 做飯 zuò fàn

10. drawing 畫畫 huà huà

Listen to the attached video file and practice repeating each phrase until you feel confident enough to move on to the next part.

Grammar Note: In Mandarin, verbs are often paired with nouns like seen above. In English we say “eat”, in Chinese we say 吃飯 chī fàn or “eat rice” unless a specific food is being talked about (which, shows how important rice was and is to the Chinese). You don’t always have to use a noun alongside a verb when speaking, as it can often be an understood, but when we are learning our vocabulary, verbs will generally be paired with nouns. As we progress, I will explain in more detail if necessary, but for now, let’s keep it simple, okay?

Useful Adjectives: The following list of words are useful when talking about the hobbies listed above.

1. fun 好玩(的) hăo wán de

2. useful 有用(的) yŏu yòng de

3. interesting 有興趣(的) yŏu xìng qù de

4. relaxing 輕鬆(的) qīng sōng de

5. healthy 健康(的) jiàn kāng de

Listen to the attached video file and practice repeating each phrase until you feel confident enough to move on to the next part.

Grammar Note: The character 的 is often used after an adjective to indicate a particular characteristic of something, for example, in the sentence: 蔬菜是健康的 shū cài shì jiàn kāng de “vegetables are healthy”, we are saying that a trait of vegetables is that they are healthy. This is indicated by the 的. We could also express this by saying 蔬菜很健康 shū cài hĕn jiàn kāng. More on that in the future as well as other uses of 的.

Story: Read and listen to the following story, then answer the questions below.

I have a lot of hobbies. Every morning I do yoga and I take my dog for a walk every night. I like to go hiking and rafting on the weekend. I love to see beautiful scenery and be alone in nature. But if we have rainy weather, that’s okay. I can stay indoors and read my comic book collection, play video games or watch a movie with my family. Wherever I am, I dont have to worry about getting bored!

我的興趣很多。每天早上我做瑜伽，和每晚上我帶我的狗狗去散步。周末我喜歡去爬山和泛舟。我愛看大自然亮的風景。要是有下雨天，沒關係。我可以留在家裡看我漫畫書的收藏品，玩電動遊戲或是跟我的家人看電影。不管我在哪裡，我不會擔心我會無聊！

wŏ de xìng qù hĕn duō. mĕi tiān zăo shàng wŏ zuò yú jiā hé mĕi wăn shàng wŏ dài wŏ de gŏu gŏu qù săn bù. zhōu mò wŏ xĭ huān qù pá shān hé fàn zhōu. wŏ ài kàn dà zì rán de piāo liàng fēng jĭng. yào shì yŏu xià yŭ tiān, méi guān xì wŏ kĕ yĭ liú zài jiā lĭ kàn wŏ màn huà shū de shōu cáng pĭn, wán diàn dòng yóu xì huò shì gēn wŏ de jiā rén kàn diàn yĭng. bù guăn wŏ zài nă lĭ, wŏ bù huì dān xīn wŏ huì wú liáo！

Comprehension Questions: I’m not going to give you an English translation for the following questions, I want to see how much you can intuitively figure out from what we have already learned. Take a minute to email me you answers and I will let you know how you did! Consider it “homework”.

1. 我的興趣很多嗎？

wŏ de xìng qù hĕn duō ma？

2. 我每天晚上做瑜伽嗎？

wŏ mĕi tiān wăn shàng zuò yú jiā ma？

3. 我什麼時候喜歡去爬山？

wŏ shén me shí hòu xĭ huān qù pá shān ？

4. 我下雨天喜歡做什麼？

wŏ xià yŭ tiān xĭ huān zuò shén me ？

5. 我怕無聊嗎？

wŏ pà wú liáo ma？

Essential Vocabulary: Here’s a list of some of the most useful phrases that we learned in this lesson. Practice them and record yourself and compare your pronunciation to mine.

1. 興趣= interests/hobbies

2. 很多= very many

3. 每天早上= every morning

4. 晚上= night

5. 或是= or

6. 帶狗狗去散步= take the dog for a walk

7. 漂亮的風景= beautiful scenery

8. 大自然= nature

9. 留在家裡= stay at home

10. 漫畫書的收藏品= comic book collection

11. 玩電動遊戲= play video games

12. 看電影= watch movies

13. 不管= it doesn’t matter

14. 擔心= worry

15. 無聊= bored