Song – We Have A Guest!《客人来》

Have you learnt the Little Snail song?
Here’s another song for you to learn. A children’s song again, this time a popular one!

It’s called《客人来》(Kèrén lái) – ‘kèrén’ meaning ‘guest, visitor’, and ‘lái’, ‘to come, to visit’. So, “kèrén lái” – We’ve got a visitor!

keren lai

Again, there are only four lines, I’m sure in no time you’ll be singing this along with the locals. Here are the lyrics and meaning:

kèrén lái kàn bàba
客人来看爸爸
kèrén – visitor
lái – to come
kàn – to visit
bàba – Dad
Someone’s come to visit Dad

bàba bú zài jiā
爸爸不在家
bàba – Dad
bú – not (negation)
zài – to exist, to be present
jiā – home
Dad is not at home

wǒ qǐng kèrén xiān zuòxia
我请客人先坐下
wǒ – I
qǐng – to request, to ask, to invite
kèrén – visitor
xiān – first
zuòxia – to sit down
I ask the guest to take a seat

zài jìng yì bēi chá
再敬一杯茶
zài – then, after that
jìng – to offer politely
yì – one
bēi – (measure word) cup, glass
chá – tea
And serve him a cup of tea

Now let’s find something to learn from this.

Click here for more!
We’ll first have a look at some of the words in the song.As usual, there will be a normal version and a slow version of the recordings.

1) 客人 kèrénvisitor, guest
01a keren

Eg:
Jīntiān jiāli lái le hěn duō kèrén.
今天家里来了很多客人。
01b jintian lai le keren
Jīntiān – today
jiāli – home
lái – to come
le – aspectual particle to indicate completion of action
hěn – very
duō – many
kèrén – guest
We had many visitors today.

2) 看 kànvisit
02a kan

Eg:
Huí Rìběn de shíhou wǒ yídìng qù kàn nǐ.
回日本的时候我一定去看你。
02b hui riben de shihou
Huí – to return
Rìběn – Japan
de – structural particle used to link an attributive to a noun
shíhou – time
wǒ – I
yídìng – definitely
qù – to go
kàn – to visit
nǐ – you
I’ll definitely go to visit you when I return to Japan.

Tīngshuō tā bìng le, wǒmen qù kànkan tā ba.
听说他病了,我们去看看他吧。
02c tingshuo ta bing le
Tīngshuō – to be told, to hear of
tā – he, him
bìng – to be sick
le – modal particle to indicate change or emergence of new situation
wǒmen – we
qù – to go
kànkan – to visit (verb reduplication)
ba – modal particle to express command, request, consultation or proposal
I hear that he’s sick, let’s go and visit him.

3) 请 qǐng
03a qing

a) please

Eg:
Refer to 4), 5), 7) & 9)

b) to invite, to entertain, to give a treat

Eg:
Tā chángcháng qǐng péngyou chī fàn.
他常常请朋友吃饭。
03b qing chi fan
Tā – he
chángcháng – often
qǐng – to give a treat
péngyou – friend
chī – to eat
fàn – rice, meal
He often treats his friends to meals.

4) 坐 zuòto sit
04a zuo

Eg:
Qǐng zuò!
请坐!
04b qing zuo
Qǐng – please
zuò – to sit
Please have a seat.

Wǒmen zuò zhèr ba.
我们坐这儿吧。
04c zuo zher ba
Wǒmen – we
zuò – to sit
zhèr – here
ba – modal particle to express command, request, consultation or proposal
Let’s sit here.

5) 喝 hēto drink
05a he

Eg:
Qǐng hē chá.
请喝茶。
05b qing he cha
Qǐng – please
hē – to drink
chá – tea
Please have some tea.

Nǐ xiǎng hē shénme?
你想喝什么?
05c he shenme
Nǐ – you
xiǎng – (optative verb) to want (to do something)
hē – to drink
shénme – what
What would you like to drink?

And here are some more expressions related to receiving guests.

6) 欢迎 huānyíngwelcome
06a huangying

Eg:
Huānyíng huānyíng!
欢迎欢迎!
(verb reduplication)
Welcome!
06b huangying huanying

Huānyíng nǐ lái wǒ jiā wánr.
欢迎你来我家玩儿。
06c huangying lai
Huānyíng – welcome
nǐ – you
lái – to come
wǒ – I, me, my
jiā – home
wánr – to play, to have fun
You’re welcome to visit me. / Do come and visit me.

7) 进 jìn to enter
07a jin

Eg:
Qǐng jìn!
请进!
07b qing jin
Qǐng – please
jìn – to enter
Please come in.

Jìnlai ba!
进来吧!
07c jinlai
Jìn – to enter
lai – come (here it is not a verb, but a directional complement indicating that the action moves towards the speaker)
ba – modal particle to express command, request, consultation or proposal
Come in!

8) 倒茶 dào cháto pour tea
08a dao cha

Eg:
Gěi kèrén dào chá ba.
给客人倒茶吧。
08b dao cha ba
Gěi – (preposition) to, for
kèrén – guest
dào – to pour
chá – tea
ba – modal particle to express command, request, consultation or proposal
Serve the guest some tea.

9) 慢用 mànyòng*enjoy (the food/ drink)
09a manyong

Eg:
Qǐng mànyòng.
请慢用。
09b qing manyong
Qǐng – please
màn – slow
yòng – (honorific) to eat, to drink
Enjoy your meal./ Help yourself.

10) 慢走 mànzǒu*goodbye
10a manzou

*You can think of ‘mànyòng’ and ‘mànzǒu’ as set expressions. Since ‘màn’ means slow, ‘mànyòng’ is used when asking someone to enjoy his meal, or literally, to eat slowly. ‘Zǒu’ means to leave (a place), so when someone is leaving, you can say ‘mànzǒu’ to him. The literal meaning is ‘to walk slowly’, so it is supposed to mean something like ‘take care’, ‘see you again’. Take care, though, not to use it when you are the one leaving!

Guess we can wrap it up for now! Was the above too much to remember? No worries, you can start by remember the following three lines; they should make you look like quite a good host!

Qǐng jìn
请进
Qǐng zuò
请坐
Qǐng hē chá
请喝茶
11 qing jin zuo he

Oh, don’t forget to learn the song too!

xiàhuí jiàn!
下回见!
Until next time!

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