Textbook · HSK 1
How's the Weather There? 天气怎么样
玛丽 video-calls her family and compares the weather in two cities: 怎么样 to ask how something is, 比 to line two things up, and 都 and 也 to sweep everyone into one warm sentence.
玛丽 has been in Beijing long enough to miss home, so tonight she calls her 爸爸 and 妈妈. Read the conversation once, straight through, before we take it apart. Watch for the same answer-then-ask move from the earlier chapters, now pointed at the weather: she says what it is like where she is, then flips it back with a quick question about home. Three small tools do most of the work. 怎么样 asks how something is going, 比 lines up two cities and points at the colder one, and 都 and 也 gather everyone into one sentence so nobody is left out.
ⓘ 真 means 'really,' and it means it
真想家 is 'I really miss home.' 真 is like 很 with the volume turned up, the 'really' you say when you actually feel it. It sits right in front of the adjective or verb: 真好, 真大, 真想家. Save it for when you mean it, or it stops meaning anything.
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想 was 'want' back at the shop last chapter. Aimed at a person or a place it slides into 'miss': 想家 is 'miss home,' and you will hear 我想爸爸 for 'I miss Dad.'
ⓘ 怎么样 asks 'how is it?'
天气怎么样 means 'how's the weather?' 怎么样 is the all-purpose 'how is it, how's it going' you park at the end of a sentence to ask someone to size something up. It is also the title of this chapter: 天气怎么样. Point it at anything: 北京怎么样, 爸爸怎么样, and the other person gives you their read on it.
ⓘ 也 adds a second thing, before the verb
北京很冷，也下雨 means 'Beijing is cold, and it also rains.' 也 means 'also, too,' and it sits right before the verb 下雨. This is the part that trips English speakers: 也 goes in front of the verb, never tacked onto the end the way English puts 'too' last.
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This is the weather version of the answer-then-ask move. 玛丽 tells them about Beijing, then flips it back with 家里呢, 'and at home?' One known word, 呢, and the turn is theirs.
ⓘ 比 lines two things up and points at the bigger one
比北京热 means 'hotter than Beijing.' The shape is A 比 B plus an adjective: 家里比北京热, 'home is hotter than Beijing.' 比 lines the two places up and the adjective says which way it tips. Notice there is no 很 here. Once 比 is doing the comparing, the 很 from a plain 家里很热 drops away.
ⓘ 最 pushes an adjective all the way to the top
最冷 is 'coldest,' the most cold there is. 最 sits right in front of an adjective and pins it at the extreme: 最好 is 'best,' 最大 is 'biggest.' Where 比 weighs two things against each other, 最 lifts one thing above everything else.
ⓘ 都 sweeps everyone in, before the verb
爸爸妈妈都很好 means 'Dad and Mom are both well.' 都 gathers up everyone named in front of it, 爸爸妈妈, and stands before what they are: 'all of them, well.' Like 也, it lives in front of the verb or adjective, after the people, never at the very front of the sentence.
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爸爸 answers a little, then asks a little: 你在北京高兴吗？ That comment-then-question habit is exactly what keeps a call from turning into an interview.
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玛丽 stacks the tools she just learned into one breath: 也 for 'pretty too,' 比 for 'colder than home,' 最 for 'coldest,' and 真 for how much she means 真想家.
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明天 is back from the time chapter, sitting up front as 'tomorrow.' 明天北京天气怎么样 asks how tomorrow's weather will look, with 怎么样 doing the asking again.
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不下雨 uses the 不 from the phone-call chapter to say it will not rain, and then she bounces the day straight back: 家里明天怎么样？ Answer, then ask.
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都 and 也 pile up warmly at the close: 爸爸妈妈都想你, 也都很高兴, 'both miss you, and both happy too.' Two little words carry the whole family into one sentence.
Look at how the call keeps moving. 玛丽 never just reports the weather and stops. She says 北京很冷，也下雨 and then fires 家里呢？ straight back. 爸爸 tells her the family is fine and immediately asks 你在北京高兴吗？ Both of them answer a little, then ask a little, and the call stays a conversation instead of a weather report read out loud. Underneath it are the three tools from the top of the chapter: 怎么样 to ask how something is, 比 to set two places side by side, and 都 and 也 to fold everyone into one warm line.
Why 比 quietly kicks 很 out of the sentence
You learned early that a plain description needs a little 很 holding it up: 家里很热, 'home is hot.' The 很 is not really 'very' there; it is the small word that lets the adjective stand as a sentence at all. But the moment 比 walks in to compare two things, that 很 has to leave. You say 家里比北京热, never 家里比北京很热. The comparison itself is now doing the propping-up that 很 used to do, so 很 would just get in the way. If you want to say the gap is large, you do not reach back for 很; you use a different word later on. For now, the rule is clean and worth burning in: no 比 means keep the 很 (家里很热), 比 means drop it (家里比北京热). 玛丽 and her mom get this right on every comparison in the call.
That shape is the whole idea of 比. Two figures placed next to each other so you can see which is taller, hotter, colder. A 比 B plus an adjective, and you have pointed at the one that wins: 北京比家里冷 says Beijing is the colder of the two. When you want to go past comparing and crown a single winner, you swap 比 for 最: 最冷 is not 'colder than something,' it is 'coldest of all.'
都 counts what comes before it, not after
The single most common way beginners break 都 is to reach for it like the English 'all' and put it in front of the group: they try 都爸爸妈妈, the way English says 'all of them.' Chinese runs the other direction. 都 looks backward, not forward. It sums up whatever was already named in front of it and then sits before the verb: 爸爸妈妈都很好 is 'Dad and Mom, all of them, are well.' The people come first, then 都, then what they do. Same for a list of anything: 北京、家里都下雨 would mean 'Beijing and home, both of them, are raining.' So whenever you want 'both' or 'all,' say who first, and let 都 gather them up from behind. Put it in front and a native listener simply waits for the sentence that never comes.
Place your bets. 玛丽 wants to say 'Beijing is colder than home.' She has 北京, 家里, and 冷. Which one word lines the two cities up so the sentence can point at the colder one? Picture the whole thing, then reveal.
比. Say 北京比家里冷, 'Beijing is colder than home.' The shape is A 比 B plus the adjective, and remember: with 比 in the sentence, the 很 drops out. Not 北京比家里很冷, just 北京比家里冷.
The two little sweeping words are a matched pair. 都 means 'all, both' and gathers up the people named before it; 也 means 'also, too' and adds one more thing to what was just said. Both of them live in the same spot, right before the verb: 爸爸妈妈都很高兴, 我也想妈妈. Get used to that seat in the sentence, because a whole family of these before-the-verb words will move in over the next chapters, and they all sit exactly there.
怎么 and 怎么样 are the same question at two sizes
You met 怎么样 in the call as the tidy 'how is it?' you hang on the end: 天气怎么样. Hiding inside it is a shorter word, 怎么, which is the plain 'how' you put in front of a verb to ask the way something is done: 这个怎么写 asks 'how do you write this?' The longer 怎么样 asks for a verdict on a whole thing, so it likes to sit at the end and take no verb: 北京怎么样, 电影怎么样, 'how's Beijing, how was the movie?' The short 怎么 asks about the manner of an action, so it leans in front of a verb. Same root, two jobs: 怎么 for 'how do you do it,' 怎么样 for 'so how is it?' In this chapter you only need the assessment one, but now you can hear why the two look so alike.
Bet first. 爸爸 wants to say 'Dad and Mom are both happy.' He already has 爸爸妈妈 and 很高兴. Which single word goes between them to sweep both people in, and where does it sit? Guess, then reveal.
都. Say 爸爸妈妈都很高兴, 'Dad and Mom are both happy.' 都 comes after the people and before what they are, never out in front. It counts backward to gather up whoever you just named.
Last bet. You want to ask your family 'how's the weather?' You have 天气 for 'weather.' Which two-word question hangs on the end to ask them to size it up? Predict, then reveal.
怎么样. Say 天气怎么样？, 'how's the weather?' 怎么样 is the all-purpose 'how is it' you park at the end of almost anything: 北京怎么样, 明天怎么样. And that answer-then-ask move means after you report your own weather, you bounce it right back with 家里呢 or 你那怎么样.
That is the whole chapter. Ten words, and you can call home, say how the weather is, weigh one place against another, and gather your whole family into a single warm sentence.
- 都 (dōu): all, both; the word that sweeps everyone named before it into the sentence
- 也 (yě): also, too; sits before the verb, never at the end
- 怎么 (zěn me): how; the plain 'how' you put in front of a verb
- 怎么样 (zěn me yàng): how is it?, how about?; the assessment you hang on the end
- 高兴 (gāo xìng): happy, glad
- 天气 (tiān qì): weather
- 下雨 (xià yǔ): to rain
- 比 (bǐ): compared to, than; the word that lines two things up (and pushes 很 out)
- 最 (zuì): most, the -est; crowns a single winner where 比 only compares two
- 真 (zhēn): really, truly; 很 with the volume up
Ask 天气怎么样, answer with a little 很冷 or 比家里热, then bounce it back with 家里呢. That answer-then-ask habit, now carrying 比, 都, and 也, is the thing to take into the next chapter. Practice it in the study room, then go ask someone how the weather is where they are.