Level 4 · Lesson 18

等一等，看一看
Wait a moment, take a look

你等一等，我看看天气。

Doubling the verb — 看看, 等一等 — and the softer 一下; plus 玩儿 and the r of spoken Beijing.

听 · Listen

我的词典呢？
 安娜 —  李明，你帮我找找我的词典，好吗？ 
Li Ming, could you help me look for my dictionary?  
 李明 —  好，我找一找。 
Sure, I'll have a look.  
 李明 —  你看，在椅子上！ 
Look — it's on the chair!  
 安娜 —  谢谢你！我们去公园玩儿吧。 
Thank you! Let's go and have some fun in the park.  
 李明 —  等一等，我看看天气。 
Hold on a second, let me check the weather.  
 李明 —  外边在下雨。 
It's raining outside.  
 安娜 —  那我们等一下。 
Then let's wait a bit.  
 李明 —  好。你试试这个新茶吧。 
All right. Try this new tea in the meantime.  

讲解 · Explanation

你看看。你等一等。

Say a verb twice and the action becomes short, light and easy to refuse — 'have a look', 'wait a sec', 'give it a try'. One-syllable verbs double straight up, and the second copy loses its tone: 看看 kànkan, 等等 děngdeng, 找找 zhǎozhao, 试试 shìshi, 问问 wènwen. You may drop 一 into the seam — 看一看, 等一等, 找一找 — with no change of meaning; that 一 is unstressed too, so we write it kàn yi kàn. Two-syllable verbs repeat as a block: 休息休息 xiūxi xiūxi.

你等一下。我介绍一下。

一下 after the verb does exactly the same softening job, and it is the easiest of the three because it fits any verb, one syllable or two: 看一下, 试一下, 问一下, 介绍一下. This is the polite way to ask a stranger for anything — 请问一下 — because it makes your request sound like a small one. If the action is already finished, 了 goes in the middle: 我看了一下 (I had a quick look), 我看了看 works the same way.

我们去公园玩儿吧。

玩儿 means to play, to hang out, to have a good time — 去公园玩儿, 明天来我家玩儿. It also shows you the r of northern speech, written 儿 and pronounced as a curl on the end of the syllable: 玩儿 wánr, 一点儿 yìdiǎnr, 这儿 zhèr, 哪儿 nǎr. Write the r whenever you say it. Southern speakers use fewer of them, and both ways are good Chinese.

生词 · Vocabulary

词	Meaning	注 · Note
等	to wait, to wait for	等一等, 等一下, 等我
找	to look for, to seek	找找我的词典
试	to try, to try on	试试这件衣服
一下	a moment, a bit	goes after the verb: 看一下
玩儿	to play, to have fun	去公园玩儿

练习 · Practice

老师说：请 ______，我们三点开始。 Please wait a moment — we start at three.

下午没有课，我们去公园 ______ 吧。 Fill in 'have some fun'.

王老师，请您 ______ 我的名字。 Fill in 'have a look at' — the doubled form of 看.

排一排。 Arrange the words: 'Have a quick look at this book.'

等、找、试、一下、玩儿 Match each word to its meaning.

用一用 · Use it

等一等！我找一找。你试试吧。

Say the three lines above aloud, then soften four requests of your own with a doubled verb or with 一下: ask someone to look at something (你看一下……), to wait (请等一等), to try something (你试试), and to help (你帮我找一找). Say each one twice — once doubled, once with 一下 — and listen to how the second syllable of the doubled verb drops away to nothing.