Basic home actions and choices | Learn Chinese in English

Chinese lesson set in a contemporary Shanghai everyday setting: A beginner practices six useful English phrases about basic home actions and choices..

EN → ZH / Level: A1

About This Lesson

Use Basic home actions and choices to practice Chinese conversation, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and quizzes.

Dialogue

A

请打开门。

qǐng dǎkāi mén Please open the door.
B

请关上窗户。

qǐng guānshàng chuānghu Please close the window.
A

请把它打开。

qǐng bǎ tā dǎkāi Please turn it on.
B

请把它关掉。

qǐng bǎ tā guāndiào Please turn it off.
A

请把这个给我。

qǐng bǎ zhège gěi wǒ Please give me this.
B

我要这个。

wǒ yào zhège I will take this.

Word by Word

In the dialogue, 请 means “please” and makes a request polite, as in 请打开门 and 请关上窗户. A common reuse pattern is 请 + an action when asking someone to do something, such as during a polite request at home.
打开 In 请打开门, 打开 means “open,” while in 请把它打开 it means “turn it on.” It is used with the thing being opened or turned on, and you can use it when asking someone to open a door or switch something on.
Here, 门 means “door” in 请打开门. The reusable pattern is 打开 + 门 or another object, for example when asking someone to open a door at home.
关上 In 请关上窗户, 关上 means “close” or “shut,” with the window becoming closed. A common reuse pattern is 关上 + an object, used when asking someone to shut a window or another open item.
窗户 Here, 窗户 means “window” in 请关上窗户. It can follow an action such as 关上 when asking someone to close a window at home.
In 请把它打开 and 请把这个给我, 把 marks the specific object that the following action handles. A common pattern is 把 + object + verb phrase, used when asking someone to do something with a particular item.
In 请把它打开 and 请把它关掉, 它 means “it,” referring to a previously identified non-person thing. The reusable pattern 把它 + action is useful when asking someone to do something with that known item.
关掉 In 请把它关掉, 关掉 means “turn off” or “switch off.” It is used for something that is on, and you can use 把 + object + 关掉 when asking someone to switch a particular thing off.
这个 In 请把这个给我 and 我要这个, 这个 means “this” or “this one,” referring to the item being indicated or selected. It can be used before a noun or by itself when choosing one item from several options.
In 请把这个给我, 给 means “give,” describing the transfer of the selected item to the speaker. The reusable pattern 把 + item + 给 + recipient is useful when asking someone to hand a particular thing to someone.
In 请把这个给我, 我 means “me,” the person who should receive the item; in other contexts, it can mean “I,” the speaker. The common expression 给我 is used when asking someone to give something to the speaker.
In 我要这个, 要 expresses wanting or choosing the item, so the sentence means “I want this” or “I’ll take this.” The reusable pattern 要 + item is useful when selecting something or stating which item you want.

Grammar Points

请 + 把 + object + verb + result complement

请把门关上。

qǐng bǎ mén guānshàng

Please close the door.

把 places the object before the verb and emphasizes what happens to it; 关上 shows the completed result.

Chinese Vocabulary

prep
disposal marker used to indicate the object of an action

请把它打开。

窗户 noun
chuānghu window

请关上窗户。

打开 verb
dǎkāi open; turn on

请打开门。

verb
gěi give

请把这个给我。

关掉 verb
guāndiào turn off; switch off

请把它关掉。

关上 verb
guānshàng close; shut

请关上窗户。

noun
mén door

请打开门。

verb
qǐng please

请打开门。

pron
it

请把它打开。

pron
me; I

请把这个给我。

verb
yào want; will take

我要这个。

这个 pron
zhège this

请把这个给我。

Quiz

Spelling

Tap the letters to spell the word.

turn off; switch off

Show Answer关掉

open; turn on

Show Answer打开

this

Show Answer这个

window

Show Answer窗户