M: Dàjiā hǎo! Huānyíng nǐmen dào Xiànzài Xué Hànyǔ. Wǒ shì ML

S: Wǒ shì Stuart.

M: Stuart, 今天我们学什么jīn tiān wǒmen xuéshénme?

S: Well, we’ve learnt lots about time. Now, it’s time we learnt to say things like ‘three days ago’ or ‘ten years ago’ or whatever. ML, nǐ tóngyì ma?

M: Wǒ tóngyì.

S: Now, listen and repeat our simple conversation. Try to pick out the words for ‘three years ago’, ‘three weeks ago’ and ‘three days ago’.

M: Stuart. It seems， 好像 it seems you’re a bit unhappy. 好像你有点不高兴。为什么？hǎoxiàng ní yǒu diǎn bù gāoxìng. Wèi shénme?

S: Three years ago, I had money. Three weeks ago, I had lots of money. But, 可是 kěshì, three days ago, I didn’t have any money. Today, I still don’t have money. 三年前，我有钱 sān nián qián, wǒ yǒu qián. 三个星期前，我有很多钱 sān ge xīngqī qián, wǒ yǒu hěn duō qián. 可是，三天前我没有钱kěshì, sān tiān qián, wǒ méi yǒu qián. 今天，我还没有钱 jīn tiān, wǒ hái méi yǒu qián.

M: 三个星期前你有钱sān ge xīngqī qián níyǒu qián. But, 但是，三天前你没有钱。 为什么 wèi shénme?

S: Because, four days ago I went to Las Vegas. 因为，四天前我去了拉斯维加斯。yīnwéi, sì tiān qián wǒ qù le lāsīwéijiāsī.

M: 我知道了. You gambled there, right? 你在那里赌钱了， 对不对？nǐ zài nàlǐ dǔ qián le, duì bú duì?

S: duì. 四天前我赌钱了。sì tiān qián wó dǔqián le.

M: Silly Stuart.

S: Wǒ tóngyì.

S: Ok, now we know how to say ‘three, or four or whatever, days ago, or weeks, or months or years or hours or minutes ago’. Every body say ‘Five years ago we went to Las Vegas –lāsīwéijiāsī– Las Vegas.

M: Duì le. 五年前我们去了拉斯维加斯 wǔ nián qián wǒmen qù le lāsīwéijiāsī.

S: Now say, ‘three months ago we went to Shanghai’.

M: Hén hǎo. 三个月前我们去了上海 sān ge yuèqián wǒmen qù le Shànghǎi.

S: Finally, ‘Five days ago they went to Macao – àomén – Macao’.

M: Hén hǎo. 五天前他们去了澳门 wǔ tiān qián tāmen qù le àomén.

S: By the way, the pinyin for ‘Macao’ 澳门is AO MENàomén, 4th tone 2nd tone, say it, àomén.

M: And ‘gamble’ is, 赌钱 DU QIAN dǔqián, 3rd tone 2nd tone, dǔqián, dǔqián.

S: And we end with some advice. Don’t gamble. 不要赌钱 bú yào dǔqián.

M: Wǒ tóngyì. See you next time.

S: Zàijiàn.