# Elementary | Push and Pull

An episode of [ChinesePod - Beginner](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1489328856), 1 Apr 2026, 14 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/109bf914/podcast/play/116612180/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-2-9%2Fa0469ce0-d8e8-378e-f01a-23a7eb2a5cae.mp3

So you think that "push" and "pull" are the only options for opening a door? Think again! With this Chinese lesson, you can learn about advanced door opening, even as an absolute beginner. Episode link: https://www.chinesepod.com/1654

## Transcript

[0:06] Watch What to. Learn Chinese, but Chinese.
[0:09] But that's the way to learn Chinese.
[0:15] Chinese, but that's the way to learn Chinese.
[0:24] Hi Chinese pie listeners, this is an elementary lesson.
[0:26] My name is John NI. Hao was she Jenny?
[0:29] So Jenny, today we have an exciting adventure with our two
[0:32] people in the dialogue. Yes, they're at a door.
[0:36] And they're trying to get in. Here's the conflict.
[0:38] What is it? It revolves around 2 very
[0:41] important verbs. OK.
[0:43] And of course they are push and pull.
[0:46] But the door is not opening. Toya some Hui Shu all.
[0:50] Right. So it's kind of a mystery, bit
[0:52] of a thriller here. Why don't we give you some verbs
[0:55] to prep you for what you're going to hear.
[0:57] You know what the verbs are in English, but in Chinese they
[0:59] are. Twai twai.
[1:03] OK, TUI twai first tone right twai, that means to push.
[1:08] Yes. Does it sound like a pushy
[1:11] sound? Twai.
[1:13] Twai, it's sort of it, yeah, because you're almost pushing
[1:17] your tongue to make that. You're pushing air out of your
[1:20] mouth. Tweet, tweet, Tweet and.
[1:23] Then the other one pulling right.
[1:24] Yes, La La. OK also first tone.
[1:30] I used to remember these as being like horizontal
[1:32] directions. You know the the action of the
[1:35] direction is horizontal. You lost me there.
[1:37] So it's it's pushing and pulling right first tone, all right,
[1:40] anyway. How about if you get John's
[1:43] mnemonic congratulations? Anyway, let's listen to the
[1:48] dialogue 3 times. Here we go.
[1:55] De Hua DPN. The RPN.
[2:30] La. Pushing.
[3:16] OK, now the translation doesn't work.
[3:25] Pulling doesn't do it. LA pushing.
[3:30] Pushing. Pushing also doesn't work.
[3:35] Pushing. Pushing doesn't do it either.
[3:44] What's wrong with this door? What's up with this door?
[3:53] Kanan Suala. Maybe it's locked?
[3:57] Kanan Suala. Maybe it's locked?
[4:01] Kanan Suala. Niyo, Yoshima.
[4:06] Do you have the key? Niyo, Yoshima.
[4:11] Do you have a key? Niyo Yoshima Maiyo.
[4:17] Oh, not a shibushi main Ling. No.
[4:22] Oh, is that the doorbell? Mayo.
[4:26] Oh, not a Shibushi Menling. No.
[4:30] Oh, is that the doorbell? Mayo.
[4:33] Oh, not a Shibushi Menling. Oh, the suspense.
[4:39] So this door does not respond to pulling or pushing.
[4:43] Yeah, so let's take a look at that, how they expressed that
[4:46] pulling and pushing doesn't work, doesn't open the door, ha.
[4:49] LA. Pushing LA.
[4:54] OK, so LA means pull, but in this case it refers to the
[4:57] action of pulling, right? So in English we say pull, you
[5:01] know, pulling, pulled. We Add all these little parts to
[5:03] the words to explain what part of speech it is and all this.
[5:06] But in Chinese you just say. LA.
[5:10] OK, And then to express that this act of pulling doesn't
[5:13] work, what do? We say.
[5:17] So Boo, that's negating, right? And then seeing a second tone.
[5:21] Toy shun means it works. Yeah, this this word is kind of
[5:26] versatile, but in today's lesson it means it works or it doesn't
[5:30] work. Toy.
[5:31] So of course pushing means doesn't work.
[5:34] OK, so pulling doesn't work. And then the next one.
[5:36] Toy. Yeah, pushing.
[5:40] Toy. Yeah, pushing.
[5:42] So in the same way pushing also doesn't work.
[5:46] Toy so twai. As we previewed Tui first tone
[5:51] means to push. OK, now notice where we put the
[5:54] Yeah, here we also. Yes, it comes before pushing.
[5:59] Right. So in English we might say
[6:01] pushing doesn't work either and we put it at the end, right?
[6:04] Yes, but in Chinese this word, yeah has to come before
[6:09] adjectives or verbs. OK, so twai yeah, pushing.
[6:14] Twai twai. Yeah, pushing.
[6:17] All right, so then they start wondering what's going on.
[6:21] Jugaman Samohui Shu. Jugaman Samohui Shui.
[6:26] OK, so man meaning door? What's the tone there?
[6:29] Diao Sheng. OK, second tone, man.
[6:32] Man. And then how do we ask what's
[6:35] going on with the door? Jugaman samohui Shui Shui.
[6:43] So this is that the Howard. Yes, it is.
[6:48] And then what's that? I almost means What's the
[6:53] matter? What's this thing?
[6:55] What is this affair, this matter?
[6:59] Some of you might have heard me using this word in the intro of
[7:04] this lesson when John was talking about when he was
[7:08] prefacing this mystery. I asked.
[7:12] You were secretly previewing vocabulary.
[7:14] Weren't you all? Right.
[7:16] So it's doesn't mean how it means what's going on?
[7:19] What's wrong? Yes, it's a very useful phrase.
[7:23] Now, when you want to inquire about something, when you're
[7:26] confused about something, you can say and.
[7:31] You're looking for an explanation.
[7:33] OK, so then there is a possible explanation, right?
[7:36] Yes, Kanang suala, Kanang suala. OK, so the first word there,
[7:43] Kanang, that means maybe, right? Play Kanang D sanction her D
[7:49] Arshun. OK, third tone, second tone.
[7:52] And this word is super common, super useful, right?
[7:56] Because life is full of possibilities.
[7:59] But also anytime someone asks you a question, if you want to
[8:01] be mysterious or possibly annoying, you can just be like
[8:05] Kanung. Kanung, I am not sure.
[8:09] OK, but in this case, Kanung, what?
[8:12] Saw a lot. Saw a lot.
[8:14] OK, so saw that's third tone, right?
[8:17] The way saw and just remember this as a chunk saw a lot swala
[8:23] means it's locked. Yeah, if you really wanted to
[8:26] get literally, it could be like it has been locked, someone has
[8:29] locked it, but it's easier just to remember it's locked is.
[8:33] Swala swala. OK.
[8:35] And then the whole thing, maybe it's locked.
[8:38] Kanan swala. Kananan Swala.
[8:42] OK, so logically if it's locked then you need a key, right?
[8:46] They Neo Yoshima. Neo Yoshima.
[8:52] OK, what are the tones on this word for key?
[8:54] Yoshu 4th and neutral tone. OK, Yoshu.
[8:59] Dwe, Yoshu. So this could be do you have a
[9:03] key? And it could also be do you have
[9:05] the key? Is that right?
[9:06] Dwe Neo Yoshima. Neo Yoshima.
[9:11] Right, the important thing is do you have a key or not?
[9:13] Yes, and unfortunately the answer is Mayo.
[9:17] Mayo all. Right.
[9:20] And then they make a interesting discovery.
[9:23] Oh not a shibu Shi men Ling. Not a shibu Shi men Ling.
[9:30] OK, so when they say not a, we can imagine they're pointing to
[9:32] something on the wall next to them or something.
[9:35] Yes. So that.
[9:37] Not a. And then?
[9:40] Shibu Shi. Shibu Shi.
[9:43] So is or not? Right Duai Men Ling.
[9:48] Men Ling. Munling is 2 second tones and it
[9:51] literally means doorbell right? Right.
[9:57] So the meaning here is like that.
[9:59] Could it be the doorbell? Yes.
[10:01] So I imagine they're talking they're referring to the thing
[10:06] that reads your key card. What is the proper term?
[10:09] Or it could be adorable, right? Oh, do you sure?
[10:11] You sure? Or sometimes they're, they're
[10:13] built into one unit, right? So they could be at an office,
[10:18] they could be an apartment, I don't know.
[10:19] You can start imagining the situation yourself.
[10:21] After we listen to the dialogue 3 more times, we're going to get
[10:24] into some of the details about the situation in China.
[10:28] Welcome back to another installment of Chinese Bought
[10:31] Trivia and the question for you is for what test does Chinese
[10:38] POD offer preparation services for?
[10:40] Is it a the polygraph, B the colonoscopy, C the HSK test, or
[10:46] D the CAT scan? The CAT scan.
[10:50] Oh, sorry, that is incorrect. The correct answer is C, the HSK
[10:54] test. That's right, Chinese Pod will
[10:56] thoroughly prepare you to pass this rigorous test of
[10:58] proficiency in Chinese chinesepod.com/HSK.
[11:11] DPN. The RPN.
[12:26] I. So, Jenny, what is your take?
[12:32] Where are they? Are they by an office?
[12:35] I actually just see them in front of our office, the Chinese
[12:39] pot office, because we used to use the old fashioned key and
[12:44] lock for our office, but it just gets tricky when people had to
[12:51] work overtime, who gets the key, where it's stored, etcetera.
[12:56] Right, right. And so now we have one of these
[12:58] electronic magnetic locks, right?
[13:00] Yes. So everyone has a card and we
[13:02] just put our card on that little card reader on the wall, I
[13:06] guess. Yeah, so remember la pussing
[13:09] Toya pussing because it's electronic.
[13:12] Toya, you need a card. Right.
[13:15] And quite a few times if someone comes to visit, but but the
[13:18] receptionist like had to go to the bathroom or something and
[13:21] there's just no one there. La pussing toya pushing.
[13:25] So then you're going to want to look for.
[13:27] Malin there. You go.
[13:30] How so? Are you soliciting visitors to
[13:33] come and visit us? Kanang.
[13:36] Kanang how? That's our lesson for today.
[13:38] Hope you enjoyed it all. Right.
[13:40] We'll see you guys on chinesepod.com.
[13:46] As usual, Chinese Pod provides an extensive selection of
[13:49] learning materials for this lesson on its website,
[13:52] www.chinesepod.com Can access this lesson directly with the
[13:57] lesson #1. 654. So just go to www.chinesepod.com
[14:03] slash. 165. Four and you will find a
[14:06] transcript, vocabulary and much more.
[14:09] The link again www.chinesepod.com slash. 1654.

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