--- title: Talking to the friend's grandparents — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Talking to the friend's grandparents», a lesson of the chinese street course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Ming's yéye and nǎinai (grandad and granny) live with his family, and to them you are a guest child to be fussed over. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Chinese street](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/) / Talking to the friend's grandparents # Talking to the friend's grandparents Lesson 29 of the chinese street course of Mova's primary school: 15 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/0/) — Ming's yéye and nǎinai (grandad and granny) live with his family, and to them you are a guest child to be fussed over. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/2/) — Grandparents say the same few things on every visit: nǐ zhǎng gāo le! (you've grown so tall!), zhēn guāi! (such a good child!) and, at goodbye, hǎohāo xuéxí! (study hard!). - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/3/) — Smile and say xièxie or hǎo de — don't argue. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/5/) — «nǐ shòu le» (you've got thin!) is worry, and a full plate will follow. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/8/) — And if Granny speaks fast, or in Cantonese or Hokkien, «qǐng nín màn diǎnr shuō» asks her kindly to slow down. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/9/) — yéye nǎinai hǎo («YEH-yeh NIGH-nigh HOW») means hello Grandad and Granny, said to the friend's grandparents before anything else; they may beam and say zhēn guāi! - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/10/) — nín shēntǐ hǎo ma («neen SHUN-tee HOW mah», literally «is your body well?») means are you keeping well; asking an elder about health is caring, not nosy. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/11/) — nín xiān chī («neen SHYEN CHR») means please eat first; children don't start until the eldest picks up the chopsticks or invites them with chī ba, chī ba! - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/12/) — nín zuò zhèr («neen DZWAW JAR») means please sit here; giving your seat to an elder on a sofa or a bus is expected, not extra-nice. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/13/) — wǒ lái bāng nín («waw LIGH BAHNG neen») means let me help you; elders refuse once to be polite (bú yòng, bú yòng!), so offer again and help anyway. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/15/) — zhēn guāi («JUN GWIGH») means such a good child; guāi means well-behaved, and it is the highest praise from a granny. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/16/) — hǎohāo xuéxí («HOW-how SHWEH-shee») means study hard, said by elders especially at goodbye and New Year; the answer is hǎo de, nǎinai! - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/17/) — qǐng nín màn diǎnr shuō («ching neen MAHN DYAR SHWAW») means please could you speak more slowly; many grandparents speak Cantonese, Hokkien or another dialect, which the friend may not fully understand either. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/18/) — nǐ shòu le («nee SHOW luh») means you've got thin; it is worry, not a compliment, and the answer is wǒ hěn hǎo! (I'm fine). - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/20/) — lǎorénjiā («LAOW-run-JYAH») is a respectful word for an elder, as in tā lǎorénjiā shēntǐ hǎo; calling an elder just lǎo de (the old one) is rude. - ← previous: [At the friend's home: what to say to the parents](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/28-at-the-friends-home-what-to-say-to-the-parents/) - next →: [Street chatter: wow, really?, cool!](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/30-street-chatter-wow-really-cool/) - ↑ back to [Chinese street](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/)