Level B · Elementary

Losing your wallet

Chen Hao has lost his wallet on the bus. Xiaoyu tells him what to do, in order.

What you learn to do

  • reporting a loss
  • saying what was inside
  • giving a run of advice
  • asking how long a procedure takes
  1. Chen Hao

    小雨钱包

    Xiǎoyǔ, wǒ de qiánbāo diū le.

    Xiaoyu, I have lost my wallet.

  2. Xiaoyu

    什么时候发现哪儿

    Nǐ shénme shíhou fāxiàn de ? Zài nǎr diū de ?

    When did you notice? Where did you lose it?

  3. Chen Hao

    刚才公交车以后

    Gāngcái zài gōngjiāochē shàng, xià chē yǐhòu jiù zhǎo bù dào le.

    Just now, on the bus. When I got off it had gone.

  4. Xiaoyu

    里面什么重要东西

    Lǐmiàn yǒu shénme zhòngyào de dōngxi ma ?

    Was there anything important in it?

  5. Chen Hao

    身份证银行卡还有两百

    Shēnfènzhèng, yínhángkǎ, háiyǒu liǎngbǎi duō kuài qián.

    My identity card, my bank card, and two hundred-odd yuan.

  6. Xiaoyu

    银行打电话

    Xiān gěi yínháng dǎdiànhuà, tíng le nà Zhāng kǎ.

    Ring the bank first and stop that card.

  7. Chen Hao

    已经身份证怎么

    Wǒ yǐjīng dǎ guò le. Shēnfènzhèng zěnme bàn ?

    I have already done that. What about the identity card?

  8. Xiaoyu

    派出所照片

    Qù pàichūsuǒ bǔ yī Zhāng, dài shàng zhàopiàn.

    Go to the police station and get a new one issued, take a photograph with you.

  9. Chen Hao

    时间

    Yào duō cháng shíjiān ?

    How long does it take?

  10. Xiaoyu

    去年星期

    Wǒ qùnián bǔ guò, liǎng gè xīngqī jiù ná dào le.

    I had one replaced last year, it came in two weeks.

  11. Chen Hao

    下午谢谢

    Nà wǒ xiàwǔ jiù qù. Xièxie nǐ.

    Then I will go this afternoon. Thank you.

Vocabulary to remember

  • 钱包 qiánbāo wallet, purse
  • diū to lose, to throw
  • 发现 fāxiàn to find out, to discover
  • 公交车 gōngjiāochē bus, public bus
  • 身份证 shēnfènzhèng identity card
  • 银行卡 yínhángkǎ bank card
  • 派出所 pàichūsuǒ local police station
  • to have replaced (a lost document), to mend
  • 照片 zhàopiàn photograph, photo
  • 重要 zhòngyào important, significant

Language points

找不到: to look without finding

找 means only to look for; it is 到 that says you laid hands on it. 找到了, I have found it; 找不到, I cannot find it; 没找到, I did not find it. Saying 我没找 would mean you did not even look, which is not the same excuse. The same 到 serves elsewhere: 买到, to manage to buy; 看到, to catch sight of; 拿到, to obtain.

两百多块: the "and a bit"

多 placed after a round number says there is a little more: 两百多块, two hundred-odd yuan; 三十多岁, in his thirties; 一年多, a year and a bit. It goes after the number but before the measure word when the number is round, and after the measure word when it is not: 两块多钱.

A question about the past closes with 的

你什么时候发现的 and 在哪儿丢的: when the action has already happened and you are asking not about the fact but about its circumstances, the sentence is built with 是 (often left out) and ends in 的. You ask 你是坐车来的吗 and not 你坐车来了吗, because what is at issue is the means, not the arrival.

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