Auntie Wang's cat has got out onto Xiaoyu's balcony again. Chen Hao goes up to fetch him.
Xiaoyu
王阿姨，您家的猫在我的阳台上。
Wáng āyí, nín jiā de māo zài wǒ de yángtái shàng.
Auntie Wang, your cat is out on my balcony.
Auntie Wang
它又跑出去了。它喜欢爬高。
Tā yòu pǎo chūqù le. Tā xǐhuan pá gāo.
He has run off again. He loves climbing high up.
Xiaoyu
它不怕人，还看我。
Tā bù pà rén, hái kàn wǒ.
He is not afraid of people, he is even looking at me.
Chen Hao
我上去看看，别让它跳。
Wǒ shàngqù kànkan, bié ràng tā tiào.
I will go up and see, we must not let him jump.
Auntie Wang
小心点儿，它有时候咬人。
Xiǎoxīn diǎnr, tā yǒushíhou yǎo rén.
Do be careful, he bites sometimes.
Chen Hao
没事，我家也有一只猫。
Méi shì, wǒ jiā yě yǒu yī zhī māo.
It is fine, I have a cat at home too.
Xiaoyu
它叫什么名字？
Tā jiào shénme míngzi ?
What is he called?
Auntie Wang
叫豆豆，今年三岁。
Jiào Dòudou, jīnnián sān suì.
Doudou, he is three this year.
Chen Hao
豆豆，下来！我给你吃的。
Dòudou, xiàlai ! Wǒ gěi nǐ chī de.
Doudou, come down! I have something for you to eat.
Auntie Wang
它跟你走了！谢谢你们。
Tā gēn nǐ zǒu le ! Xièxie nǐmen.
He is following you! Thank you both.
他 for a man, 她 for a woman, 它 for everything else: a cat, a table, the rain. All three are pronounced *tā* and are told apart only in writing. An owner very attached to a pet will sometimes write 他, as an English speaker might say "he" rather than "it"; that is a choice, not the rule.
它又跑出去了: he has run off again. 又 is used of something that has happened one more time, so of the past. For a repetition still to come you need 再: 明天再来, come again tomorrow. Mixing the two is the commonest mistake at this stage, and it is heard at once.
豆豆 is one character repeated, and that is the ordinary Chinese way of naming a pet or a very small child: 毛毛, 圆圆, 乐乐. The doubling makes the name affectionate, like a pet name. Almost every panda in a Chinese zoo has one.
