Level C · Intermediate

A scrape in the car park

A driver accuses Xiaoyu of scraping his door. She suggests going to look at the cameras.

What you learn to do

  • taking an accusation without admitting it
  • disputing a precise fact
  • proposing a check
  • saying what you will do if you are at fault
  1. The other driver

    Zhè shì nǐ de chē ba ? Nǐ bǎ wǒ de chē mén guā le.

    This is your car, is it not? You have scraped my door.

  2. Xiaoyu

    请问哪儿

    Wǒ gāng tíng hǎo. Qǐngwèn shì nǎr ?

    I have only just parked. Whereabouts, may I ask?

  3. The other driver

    前面一直后面

    Nǐ kàn zhè yī tiáo, cóng qiánmiàn yīzhí dào hòumian.

    Look at this mark, it runs from front to back.

  4. Xiaoyu

    看到可是地方

    Wǒ kàndào le. Kěshì zhè gè dìfang, wǒ de chē pèng bù dào.

    I can see it. But my car cannot reach that spot.

  5. The other driver

    Nà nǐ shuō shì shéi ?

    Then who was it, in your view?

  6. Xiaoyu

    停车场监控我们一起一下

    Tíngchēchǎng yǒu jiān kòng. Wǒmen yīqǐ qù kàn yīxià.

    The car park has cameras. Let us go and look together.

  7. The other driver

    监控保安麻烦

    Kàn jiān kòng hái yào zhǎo bǎo ān, máfan.

    Looking at the cameras means finding the guard, it is a nuisance.

  8. Xiaoyu

    麻烦门口分钟

    Bù máfan. Jiù zài ménkǒu, shí fēnzhōng de shì.

    Not at all. It is right by the entrance, a ten-minute matter.

  9. The other driver

    要是怎么

    Hǎo ba. Yàoshi zhēn de shì nǐ, zěnme bàn ?

    All right. And if it does turn out to be you, what then?

  10. Xiaoyu

    保险保险公司

    Shì wǒ de huà, wǒ jiù bào bǎoxiǎn, qián yóu bǎoxiǎn gōngsī chū.

    If it is me, I file with my insurer and the insurance company pays.

  11. The other driver

    Nà yào děng duō jiǔ ?

    And how long does that take?

  12. Xiaoyu

    照片今天时间

    Pāi jǐ Zhāng zhàopiàn, jīntiān jiù néng bào. Xiū de shíjiān kàn diàn.

    A few photographs and it is filed today. How long the repair takes depends on the garage.

  13. The other driver

    监控

    Nà xiān qù kàn jiān kòng ba.

    Then let us go and see the cameras first.

Vocabulary to remember

  • guā to scrape, to scratch
  • gāng just now, only just
  • pèng to bump into, to run into
  • 停车场 tíngchēchǎng car park, parking lot
  • 监控 jiān kòng CCTV, security cameras
  • 保安 bǎo ān guard, security officer
  • 门口 ménkǒu doorway, entrance
  • bào to report, to file
  • 保险 bǎoxiǎn insurance
  • pāi to pat, to take (a photo)
  • 照片 zhàopiàn photograph, photo
  • yóu by, from

Language points

碰不到: what cannot reach

我的车碰不到: my car cannot touch there. The complement 到 marks the goal being reached, and its negative in 不 says the reach falls short. It is not a refusal nor a personal inability, but a physical impossibility, which is exactly Xiaoyu's argument. Compare 看不到 (out of sight) and 买不到 (not to be found in the shops).

…的事: a matter of so much time

十分钟的事: a ten-minute matter. The turn quantity + 的事 plays a task down and slips in everywhere in speech: 两句话的事, 一趟的事. It is lighter than 只要十分钟, and serves precisely to disarm an objection of convenience, as here.

The insurer pays, and that is what calms things

报保险 means to file a claim. In China a bump with no injuries is almost always settled by photographs and an online declaration, with no paper report and no police involvement. The sentence 钱由保险公司出 ends most car-park disputes, because it takes the money out of the argument.

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