Y: Welcome to Chinese studio and today we’ve got a lot of broken things! Wo shi Yajie.
R: And Wo Shi Raymond. We sure do, and we’re going to find out how to fix em, or break them so much that we will have to buy a new one.
Y: Lets listen to the key words of the day. 

Key words of the day
a plumber 水管工 Its time to call a plumber. 叫个水管工来修一下。 The toilet is stuck. 厕所堵了。Fix the window screen.  把纱窗修一下。All in today’s Chinese Studio.

R: Ok, we have a serious problem here.
Y: What is it?
R: The toilet isn’t working right.
Y: What are you talking about?
R: Well it’s not sucking in water, its shooting out water. It’s time you tell me how to call a plumber. How do you say that in Chinese?
Y: Here it is: jiao4 ge4 shui2 guan3 gong1 lai2 xiu1 yi2 xia4. 
R: jiao4 ge4 shui2 guan3 gong1 lai2 xiu1 yi2 xia4. 
Y: jiao4 is to call,
R: jiao4,
Y: ge4 is short for yi2 ge4, which means one,
R: ge4,
Y: plumber is shui2 guan3 gong1.
R: shui2 guan3 gong1.
Y: lai2 is to be here,
R: lai2,
Y: xiu1 to fix,
R: xiu1,
Y: yi2 xia4 are used after a verb, indicating an act or an attempt,
R: yi2 xia4,
Y: jiao4 ge4 shui2 guan3 gong1 lai2 xiu1 yi2 xia4. 
R: jiao4 ge4 shui2 guan3 gong1 lai2 xiu1 yi2 xia4.  Its time to call a plumber.

Conversation 1
A: 下水道堵了。
B: 叫个水管工来修一下。

Y: Hey your favorite plumber is here!
R: Hey that’s great. make sure you take him to the back. And maybe you want to give him a gas mask.
Y: Yea, there wasn’t only water coming out of that toilet.
R: Now how do I tell him that the toilet is stuck, of course in Chinese,
Y: here we go… you can say: ce4 suo2 du3 le
R: ce4 suo2 du3 le
Y: ce4 suo3, the toilet,
R: ce4 suo3
Y: du3 le means stuck,
R: du3 le,
Y: ce4 suo2 du3 le
R: ce4 suo2 du3 le the toilet is stuck.

Conversation 2
A: 真难闻！是不是厕所堵了？
B: 没错，是厕所堵了。

R: Hey while the plumber’s here, I think he can fix the window screen, that’s broken. Y: Well I’m not sure if a plumber can do that.
R: Anyways let’s tell him to “fix the window screen”.
Y: ba3 sha1 chuang1 xiu1 yi2 xia4.
R: ba3 sha1 chuang1 xiu1 yi2 xia4.
Y: ba3 is put before the object,
R:  ba3,
Y: sha1 chuang1 is the window screen,
R: sha1 chuang1,
Y: xiu1 yi2 xia4. to fix,
R: xiu1 yi2 xia4. 
Y: ba3 sha1 chuang1 xiu1 yi2 xia4
R: ba3 sha1 chuang1 xiu1 yi2 xia4 Fix the window screen.

Conversation 3
A: 纱窗也坏了。
B: 那就把纱窗也修一下。

R: Well besides that peculiar smell I think everything is going well.
Y: Ya, the toilet flushes and our favorite plumber is hooking up the gas perfectly.
R: Ok, now since we have no risk of fire whatsoever, lets go to the quiz of the day.
Y: How do you say “Its time to call a plumber” in Chinese?
R: You could win your very own book of Chinese idioms once you get the answer and send it to us at Chinese@crifm.com