Chen Hao is getting married next month. The two families do not agree on the size of the bride price.
Auntie Wang
小陈，听说你们下个月就办婚礼了？
Xiǎo Chén, tīngshuō nǐmen xià gè yuè jiù bàn hūnlǐ le ?
Young Chen, I hear you are having the wedding next month?
Chen Hao
是。不过两家还在商量彩礼的事。
Shì. Bùguò liǎng jiā hái zài shāngliang cǎi lǐ de shì.
We are. Though the two families are still discussing the bride price.
Auntie Wang
她家是哪儿的？
Tā jiā shì nǎr de ?
Where is her family from?
Chen Hao
山东的。那边的规矩跟我们这儿不一样。
Shāndōng de. Nàbian de guī ju gēn wǒmen zhèr bù yīyàng.
Shandong. The customs there are not the same as ours.
Auntie Wang
差得多吗？
Chā de duō ma ?
Is the gap large?
Chen Hao
她家说十八万，我爸妈只准备了八万。
Tā jiā shuō shíbā wàn, wǒ bà mā zhǐ zhǔnbèi le bā wàn.
Her family says a hundred and eighty thousand, my parents have put aside eighty.
Auntie Wang
那你们两个自己怎么想？
Nà nǐmen liǎng gè zìjǐ zěnme xiǎng ?
And what do the two of you think?
Chen Hao
我们都觉得，这笔钱不如留着付首付。
Wǒmen dōu juéde, zhè bǐ qián bùrú liú zhe fù shǒu fù.
We both feel that money would be better kept for the deposit on a flat.
Auntie Wang
这个想法对。可是话要由她去说。
Zhè gè xiǎng fǎ duì. Kěshì huà yào yóu tā qù shuō.
That is the right idea. But it has to come from her.
Chen Hao
她已经跟她妈妈说过两次了。
Tā yǐjīng gēn tā māma shuō guò liǎng cì le.
She has already spoken to her mother twice.
Auntie Wang
那就让两个妈妈见一面，别让你们夹在中间。
Nà jiù ràng liǎng gè māma jiàn yī miàn, bié ràng nǐmen jiā zài zhōngjiān.
Then let the two mothers meet, and do not let yourselves be caught in the middle.
Chen Hao
我妈下个星期去。她说要把钱的事一次说清楚。
Wǒ mā xià gè xīngqī qù. Tā shuō yào bǎ qián de shì yī cì shuō qīngchu.
My mother is going next week. She wants to settle the money question in one go.
Auntie Wang
对。一开始说清楚，以后就不会再提。
Duì. Yī kāishǐ shuō qīngchu, yǐhòu jiù bùhuì zài tí.
Quite right. What is made clear at the start never comes up again.
差得多吗 asks whether the difference is large. 差 is the verb of the gap, and 得多 is its complement of degree. The answer is built on the same mould: 差得不多 (there is not much in it). Do not confuse it with 差不多, a fixed adverb meaning "roughly".
别让你们夹在中间: do not get caught between the two. The image is of an object pinched, and it is used exactly as in English of a person between two camps. The construction 夹在…中间 follows the mould verb + 在 + place, which puts the state at the end of the action.
The 彩礼 is paid by the groom's family to the bride's before the wedding. Amounts vary enormously from province to province, very high in some northern country areas, token in the big cities of the south. More and more young couples prefer to put it towards the deposit on a home, which is what Chen Hao says here, and public debate on the question is lively.
