Open Class Chinese - Daily Mandarin-
Paying the bill
当你和别人出去吃饭,是你买单呢还是别人买单?或者在你的国家通常会有什么样的买单方式?
今天我们就来看看在中国是怎样买单的。
When you are out eating with others, do you or others pay the bill? Or how does paying the bill work in your country?
Today, we will look at how we pay bills in China.
Warm Up
大家好!欢迎大家来到 Happy School Online 学习汉语,今天我们要学习的内容和买单有关,买单在我们日常生活中经常发生,只要出去吃饭,买东西都会牵扯到买单。
今天我们会学习到一些和买单有关的词语和句子,比如:请客,东道主,一共消费了多少钱?等等。
接下来我们一起看对话吧!
Hi Everyone! Welcome to Happy School Online for Chinese learning. Today, our learning material will be about paying the bill. Paying bills happen in our daily lives. We deal with bills when we eat out, or buy things.
We will learn some words and sentences related to paying bills, for an example: my treat, hosting, what’s the total bill? And so on.
Let us have a look at the following conversation.
Listen to conversation
Li Yu and Wang Hua are full and they are going to pay.

Slow speed version

Play the audio track
Content
刚才大家已经大概学习了对话,对话的内容呢,就是王华和李玉去吃饭,然后吃完饭他们要去买单,今天的难度可能有些大,但是呢,别担心,我们现在逐句来讲解。
Just now we roughly learned the dialogue, the content of the dialogue is that Wang Hua and Li Yue finished their meal and they are about to pay. Today's degree of difficulty may be a little bigger, but don't worry, we will now explain them sentence by sentence.
王华说 : “ 服务员, 买单 ” - “买单” 就是 pay the bill 的意思。 “ 买 ” 是 to buy 的意思。 “ 单 ” 就是 bill 。 “ 单 ” 需要和其他词语组合使用才具有意义。
Wang Hua says : "服务员买单. 买单" means to pay the bill. "买" means "to buy" , "单" means "the bill", but only when it is combined with other words then it will have a meaning.
李月说 : “ A A 买单 ” , 是 “go Dutch” 的意思,就是平摊付钱的意思。通常用于饮食聚会及旅游等场合。
Li Yue says:"A A 买单" , "A A 买单" means "go Dutch", which means lets split the bill. Usually used for occasions like gathering and travel.
王华说 :我来付钱。 这里的 “ 来 ” 不是 to come 的意思, “ 来 ” 放在动词前面表示要做某件事。 所以 “ 我来付钱 ” 就是 let me pay the bill 。 他说 : “ 今天我请客 ” , “请” 有三个意思,第一个是 please, 第二个是 to treat , 第三个是 to invite , 在这里是 to treat 的意思。
Wang Hua says : "我来付钱" , "来" doesn’t mean "to com” in this sentence. When it is put before a verb it means someone is about to do something. So in this sentence “ 我来付钱 ” means "let me pay the bill". He also says : "今天我请客" , "请" has three meanings, first one is "please" , second one is "to treat" , third one is "to invite" . So here it means "to treat".
王华说 : “ 我就是东道主 ” , 这句话的意思是 I am the host - “ 东道主 ” 的意思是 the host ,是指宴请宾客的主人。
Wang Hua says : "我就是东道主" , means "I am the host". "东道主" means "the host", which means the host of a banquet.
买单时,服务员说 : “ 一共消费了120元 ” 。 “ 一共 ” 的意思是 altogether / total ,通常放在数字前面,表示数量或金钱的总和。 “ 消费 ” 的意思是 to consume / spend money。
When they pay the bill, the waitress says: "一共消费120元" , means "the total is 120¥". "一共" means "altogether / total" , usually put before a number to indicate the sum of quantities/ money. "消费" means "to consume or spend money".
王华说 : 微信支付,“ 微信 ” 就是 “ WeChat ”, 是中国最常用的社交媒体平台和手机支付平台之一,可以用来和朋友聊天也可以用来付钱。 “ 支付 ” 的意思是 “ to pay ” , 可以和不同的支付方式组合使用,如 “ 现金支付、手机支付 ”。
Wang Hua says : "微信支付", "微信" is "WeChat",which is one of the most common used social media and mobile payment platform in China. You can use it to chat with friend and also to pay your bills. "支付" means "to pay" , it can be used with different mode of payment, for example : pay in cash / pay by mobile phone.
Vocabulary to know
Recap
好了,现在我们来复习一下,这节课呢,我们学习了买单,买单的时候有一些词语和方式。比如说:AA 买单,就是 Let's go Dutch ,平摊饭钱的意思。请客的意思就是 Stand treat 。 还有就是中国本土很地道的一个词语“东道主” 意思就是 host。
Alright let us recap here. In this class we learned how to pay the bill, some of the words and sentences around paying the bill. For examples: A A 买单 mean let’s go dutch, which means lets split the bill.
Extended Learning
东道主 [ dōng dào zhǔ ]
“东道主” 这里还有一个典故,东道主原来的意思为东方道路上的主人,因当时中国古代郑国在秦国的东边,郑国接待秦国出使东方的使节大臣,所以称为“东道主”。后以“东道主”指称接待或宴客的主人,或指请客的人。
Host
“东道主” has a classic origin. 东道主 originally means the host of the eastern path, because the neighboring country Zheng in ancient China were on the East side of the Ching nation. Zheng hosted Ching’s ambassadors coming from the east, that’s where
东道主 had originated from. Since then, 东道主 means to welcome or to be the host, or the person treating.