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

S: Wǒ shìStuart. Right, everybody say with ML, ‘today we learn Lesson 75’.

M: 今天我们学第七十五课 jīn tiān wǒmen xuédì qī shí wǔ kè.

S: Hén hǎo.

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

S: How about more practice with shàng and xià? And we’ll see if you guys at home can guess how to say ‘last month’ and ‘next month’.

M: I’m sure they will.

S: First, dì yī, remember how to say ‘month’ in Pǔtōnghuà? 没错。月, yuè YUE yuè.

M: One month, 一个月 yī ge yuè.

S: How do you say ‘ 2 months’? méi cuò. 两个月 liǎng ge yuè.

M: Now say, ‘last week they went to England – yīngguó’. …. Duìle. 上个星期他们去了英国 shàng ge xīngqī tāmen qùle Yīngguó.

S: Now say, ‘next week they go to America – Měiguó…. Right! 下个星期他们去美国 xià ge xīngqī tāmen qù Měiguó.

M: Now guess how to say, ‘last month I went to England’. … 恭喜，答对了！上个月我去了英国 shàng ge yuè wǒ qù le Yīngguó.

S: And now, ‘next month I go to America’. 答对了！Answer is right! 下个月我去美国xià ge yuè wǒ qùměiguó.

M: And now, do you know the word for ‘year’? It’s 年 NIAN nián, nián, 2nd tone, nián. Can you guess how to say ‘last year’ and ‘next year’? Try.

S: We fooled them, ML! I bet most of you said something like xià nián and shàng nián. Wrong! Cuò le! Bú duì.

M: Yes, ‘last year’ is 去年 qù nián, qù nián . It’s the same qù as in wǒ qù, I go, wǒ qù. So, qù nián, literally something like ‘gone year’, qù nián, last year, qù nián.

S: And ‘next year’. Just like in ‘tomorrow’, which is míng tiān, we say 明年 míng nián. Easy. Míng nián.

S: That was a nice break! We’ve learnt, ‘last year’, which is ….?

M: 去年qù nián.

S: And ‘last month’.

M: 上个月 shàng ge yuè.

S: And, ‘last week’.

M: 上个星期 shàng ge xīngqī.

S: And what is ‘next week’?

M: Duìle! 下个星期 xià ge xīngqī.

S: And next month?

M: Méi cuò! 下个月 xià ge yuè.

S: 很好。So now it’s time for you to join in our short Q & A session. Remember, Last year we all went to England, last month to the US, and we came to China last week. Yī èr sān, kāishǐ.

M: 去年你去了英国吗 qù nián nǐ qù le yīngguó ma?

S: 是的，去年我去了英国qù nián wǒqù le yīngguó.

M: 上个月你去了美国吗 shàng ge yuè nǐ qù le Měiguó ma?

S: 是的， 上个月我去了美国shàng ge yuè wǒ qù le Měiguó.

M: 你上个星期来中国的吗 nǐ shàng ge xīngqīlái Zhōngguó de ma?

S: 是的，我上个星期来中国的 wǒ shàng ge xīngqīlái Zhōngguó de.

M: And, time to have a rest. xiànzài wǒ men xiàkè.

S: Zàijiàn.