Level 2 Lesson 15.1 – He Might Not Be Interested In Soccer

GRAMMAR

Grammar 1: Perhaps, probably, might, maybe in Chinese with 可能
· HSK 2

可能 is a Modal Verb, suggesting having estimated possibility. And is usually translated as: maybe, perhaps, might, probably or possibly.

For example,

• zhège zhōumò wǒ kěnéng méiyǒu shíjiān
  这个周末我可能没有时间。
  This weekend I might not have time.
• wǒde huídá kěnéng cuò le
  我的回答可能错了。
  My answer might be wrong.

And if we say 不可能, it suggests that having no possibility. For example,

• xiàozhǎng bù kěnéng bú rènshi nà ge nǚrén
  校长不可能不认识那个女人。
  The school principal can't not know that woman.
• nàbiān nà ge nánrén bù kěnéng shì wǒ zhàngfu
  那边那个男人不可能是我丈夫。
  That man over there cannot be my husband.

Grammar 2: Questions with 吧 in Chinese · HSK 2

We’ve learned 吧 used as a Modal Particle before, where we can use 吧 at the end of a suggestion to soften the tone.

In today's lesson we’ll see some examples of using 吧 as a Question Particle, at the end of a sentence to ask a question.

Usually we say a statement, followed by Question Particle 吧 to ask about the listener's opinion about the statement. We are usually trying to get a confirmation.

Questions with 吧 have a tone of guessing and reckoning. It suggests that we’re not sure about what we’re saying and are just asking whether it is like that or not. So by using 吧, we’re not actually asking the question, we’re really just saying a statement but just don’t want to make it sound like we’re 100% sure about it.

The structure goes like this:

STATEMENT + 吧 ？

For example,

• nà ge nǚrén shì xiàozhǎng ba
  那个女人是校长吧？
  That woman is the school principal, right?
• tā hái méi huídá wǒmen ba
  他还没回答我们吧？
  He hasn't answered us yet, right?

吧 can be used together with 可能 as well. For example,

• tā kěnéng cuò le ba
  他可能错了吧？
  He (is) probably wrong?
• nǐ kěnéng hái bù zhīdào ba
  你可能还不知道吧？
  You probably don't know yet?

Grammar 3: To be interested in something in Chinese · HSK 2

We can follow the following structure to say to be interested in something in Chinese:

对  …… 感兴趣 / 对  …… 有兴趣

For example,

• tā duì hējiǔ hěn gǎn xìngqù / tā duì hējiǔhěn yǒu xìngqù
  他对喝酒很感兴趣。/ 他对喝酒很有兴趣
  He is very interested in drinking alcohol.
• tā duì nàge nánrén bù gǎnxìngqù / tā duì nàge nánrén méiyǒu xìngqù
  她对那个男人不感兴趣。她对那个男人没有兴趣。
  She is not interested in that man.