A Chinese Joke: Fire and Water
Simplified Characters
有一对夫妻，他们出去吃饭，妻子突然大叫：「啊！我忘了关瓦斯，可能会发生火灾！」
丈夫却安慰她说：「没关系，反正我也忘了关洗手台的水。」
妻子：「．．． ．．．」
Pinyin Romanization
Yǒu yīduì fūqī, tāmen chūqù chīfàn, qīzi tūrán dà jiào: “A! Wǒ wàng le guān wǎsī, kěnéng huì fāshēng huǒzāi!”
Zhàngfu què ānwèi tā shuō: “Méiguānxi, fǎnzhèng wǒ yě wàng le guān xǐ shǒu tái de shuǐ.”
Qīzi: !!!???
English Translation
There was a married couple who went out for dinner. Suddenly the wife exclaimed, “Oh! I forgot to turn off the gas! There could be a fire!”
The husband tried to comfort her by saying, “Don’t worry about it. In any case, I also forgot to turn off the water faucet.”
Wife: !!!???
Vocabulary
| ID | Chinese | Trad. | Pinyin | English Definition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Chinese | Trad. | Pinyin | English Definition |
| 1 | 一对 | 一對 | yī duì | couple; pair |
| 2 | 夫妻 | fū qī | husband and wife; married couple | |
| 3 | 他们 | 他們 | tā men | they |
| 4 | 出去 | chū qù | to go out | |
| 5 | 吃饭 | 吃飯 | chī fàn | to have a meal; to eat; to make a living |
| 6 | 妻子 | qīzi | wife | |
| 7 | 突然 | tū rán | suddenly, sudden; abrupt; unexpected | |
| 8 | 大 | dà | big; huge; large; major; great; wide; deep; older (than); oldest; eldest; greatly; very much; (dialect) father; father’s elder or younger brother | |
| 9 | 叫 | 呌 | jiào | to shout; to call; to order; to ask; to be called; by (indicates agent in the passive mood); variant of 叫 |
| 10 | 啊 | ā | interjection of surprise; Ah!; Oh! | |
| 11 | 我 | wǒ | I; me; my | |
| 12 | 忘 | wàng | to forget; to overlook; to neglect | |
| 13 | 了 | le | (modal particle intensifying preceding clause); (completed action marker) | |
| 14 | 关 | 關 | guān | to close; to shut; to turn off; to concern; to involve |
| 15 | 瓦斯 | wǎ sī | gas (loanword) | |
| 16 | 可能 | kě néng | might (happen); possible; probable; possibility; probability; maybe; perhaps; Classifiers: 个 | |
| 17 | 会 | 會 | huì | can; to be possible; to be able to; will; to be likely to; to be sure to; to assemble; to meet; to gather; to see; union; group; association; Classifiers: 个 ) |
| 18 | 发生 | 發生 | fā shēng | to happen; to occur; to take place; to break out |
| 19 | 火灾 | 火災 | huǒ zāi | fire (that burns buildings etc) |
| 20 | 丈夫 | zhàng fu | husband; Classifiers: 个 | |
| 21 | 却 | 㕁, 卻 | què | old variant of 却 ; but; yet; however; while; nevertheless; even though |
| 22 | 安慰 | ān wèi | to comfort; to console; Classifiers: 个 | |
| 23 | 她 | tā | she | |
| 24 | 说 | 說 | shuì | to persuade |
| 25 | 没关系 | 沒關係 | méi guānxi | it doesn’t matter |
| 26 | 反正 | fǎn zhèng | anyway; in any case; to come over from the enemy’s side | |
| 27 | 也 | yě | also; too | |
| 28 | 洗手台 | xǐ shǒu tái | vanity unit
洗手to wash one’s hands; to go to the toilet |
|
| 29 | 水 | shuǐ | water; river; liquid |
