A simple coffee chat turns into a funny moment of “What does that mean?”
In today’s episode, you’ll hear how three super useful expressions naturally appear in real life:
绝对 (definitely)
既然 (since / now that)
什么叫 (what does … mean)
Hello，大家好，我是Janine。Hello, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Janine.Hello everyone, I’m Janine.
昨天我和朋友一起喝咖啡。Zuótiān wǒ hé péngyou yìqǐ hē kāfēi.Yesterday I had coffee with a friend.
我朋友跟我说：“我绝对要开始运动了！Wǒ péngyou gēn wǒ shuō: “Wǒ juéduì yào kāishǐ yùndòng le!”My friend told me, “I am definitely going to start exercising!”
我笑着问他：“既然你这么想，那你今天运动了吗？”Wǒ xiàozhe wèn tā: “Jìrán nǐ zhème xiǎng, nà nǐ jīntiān yùndòng le ma?”I laughed and asked, “Since you want it so much, did you exercise today?”
他愣了一下，说：“呃……没有。”Tā lèng le yíxià, shuō: “E… méiyǒu.”He froze for a moment and said, “Uh… no.”
然后他突然问我：Ránhòu tā tūrán wèn wǒ:Then he suddenly asked me:
“那你常说的‘坚持’，什么叫坚持啊？”“Nà nǐ cháng shuō de ‘jiānchí’, shénme jiào jiānchí a?”“By the way, you often say ‘jiānchí’ (to persist) — what does that mean exactly?”
我说：“很简单，坚持就是每天做一点儿，不放弃。”Wǒ shuō: “Hěn jiǎndān, jiānchí jiù shì měitiān zuò yìdiǎnr, bú fàngqì.”I said, “Very simple — persistence means doing a little every day and not giving up.”
朋友点点头说：“好吧，那我今天就从散步开始！”Péngyou diǎn diǎn tóu shuō: “Hǎo ba, nà wǒ jīntiān jiù cóng sànbù kāishǐ!”He nodded and said, “Alright, then today I’ll start with a walk!”