Level 5 · Lesson 19

说一个故事
Telling a story

那天下午我去了公园。忽然，一只小狗跑出来了。后来…

Time words carry a story forward, 忽然 turns it, 后来 moves it on — and the subject is said once.

听 · Listen

公园里的小狗
 安娜 —  我说一个故事，你听。 
Let me tell you a story.  
 李明 —  好，你说吧。 
All right, go ahead.  
 安娜 —  上个星期六下午我有时间，就一个人骑车去了公园。路上人不多，我骑得很快。 
Last Saturday afternoon I had time, so I rode over to the park on my own. There weren't many people about and I was riding fast.  
 安娜 —  忽然，一只小狗跑出来了。我停住了车。 
Suddenly a little dog ran out. I stopped the bike.  
 李明 —  后来呢？ 
And then?  
 安娜 —  后来一个孩子跑过来，说那是他的狗。我把小狗给了他。这件事情我记得很清楚。 
Then a child came running over and said the dog was his. I handed it over to him. I remember it all very clearly.  

讲解 · Explanation

上个星期六下午我有时间。那天我去了一个很远的地方。后来我们回家了。

A story in Chinese is carried by its time words, not by its verbs — the verbs never change shape. Open with when it happened (上个星期六, 那天, 那个时候), then let 后来 'afterwards' move each new step along. Time words stand at the head of the clause, either before the subject or straight after it: 那天我去了…, or 我那天去了…. Note the pair 时间 and 时候: 时间 is a stretch of time you have or spend (我有时间), 时候 is the point at which something happens (那个时候).

忽然，一只小狗跑出来了。我忽然看见了他。天忽然黑了。

忽然 is the word that turns a story. It is an adverb, so it sits before the verb (我忽然看见了他), and it may also stand at the head of the sentence with a comma, which is what a storyteller usually does: 忽然，… Whatever follows 忽然 is new and unplanned, so it very often ends in 了 — the 了 of change, not of past time.

我骑车去公园，在路上看见一只小狗，停住了车。这件事情很有意思。

Once your listener knows who the story is about, stop saying it. Chinese drops a subject that is obvious far more readily than English does: three clauses here, one 我. Say the subject again only when it changes — 一个孩子跑过来. And two nouns for talking about the story itself: 一个故事 is the telling, 一件事情 is the thing that actually happened.

生词 · Vocabulary

词	Meaning	注 · Note
故事	story	一个故事; 说故事 to tell a story
事情	matter, thing that happened	一件事情 — the same 件 as 一件衣服
地方	place	一个地方; 那个地方很远
时间	time, a stretch of time	我有时间; not 时候, which is a point in time
忽然	suddenly	before the verb, or first in the sentence
后来	afterwards, later on	only for the past; 后来呢？ = and then?

练习 · Practice

______ ，一只小狗跑出来了。 Suddenly a little dog ran out.

哪个最好？ You are telling one story about yourself. Which sounds most natural in Chinese?

我停住了车。______ ，一个孩子跑过来了。 Fill in the word that moves the story on: afterwards.

排一排。 Arrange the words: 'Last Saturday I went to a very faraway place.'

故事、事情、地方、时间、忽然、后来 Match each word to its meaning.

用一用 · Use it

上个星期六，我一个人去了一个地方。忽然…后来…这件事情我记得很清楚。

Tell a short true story out loud, in four sentences. Open with a time word and where you went. Say what you were doing. Then turn it with 忽然 and something you did not expect. Close with 后来 and how it ended. Say 我 in the first sentence and then leave it out — and finish with 这件事情我记得很清楚.