Hi, everyone! I'm Nick Shepherd. Welcome. This video is about "a," "the," and "zero"...nothing. Okay, let's get started.
嗨，大家!我是 Nick Shepherd。歡迎收看。這部影片是在講冠詞 a、the 還有零冠詞...就是什麼都沒加。好，我們開始吧。
Here's Ryan and Antonia, a young couple. He's going food shopping. There are three things which she wants him to buy. She hasn't mentioned any of them before, so she uses "a," "an," or nothing, "zero." This is what she says: "Can you buy a lemon? And we need eggs and butter."
這是 Ryan 和 Antonia，一對年輕夫妻。Ryan 正要去採購食物。有三樣 Antonia 想叫他買的東西。她之前還沒提過任何一樣，所以她用 a、an 或什麼都不加，也就是零冠詞。以下是她說的話：「你可以買一顆檸檬嗎？而且我們需要雞蛋和奶油。」
So, we have two ideas. We have countable. That means you can count it—one, two, three, and so on. And they can be singular or plural, like these words. And we have uncountable. That means you cannot count it, like water. You can't have two waters. You can count glasses of water or bottles of milk or pounds, euros, and dollars, but not water, milk, or money, and not butter.
那麼，我們看到兩種概念。我們有可數名詞。那就代表你可以數它－－一個、兩個、三個等等。它們可以是單數或複數，就和這些詞一樣。我們還有不可數名詞。那就代表你沒辦法數它，像是水。你不會有兩個水。你可以數出有幾杯水或幾瓶牛奶，或數有多少英鎊、歐元和美金，但不能數水、牛奶或錢，也沒辦法數奶油。
So, we have new items—items we haven't talked about before, like "a lemon," "eggs," and "butter." But what happens if the items are not new, if we've talked about them before?
我們有新的物品－－之前沒提過的東西，像是 a lemon(一顆檸檬)、eggs(雞蛋)和 butter(奶油)。但要是那些東西不是新的，要是我們之前已經講過了呢？
In the next scene, Ryan comes back with some items, but not the ones Antonia asked for. She mentions three items that she mentioned before, so she uses "the." "Where's the lemon? And where are the eggs? And where's the butter?"
在下一幕中，Ryan 帶了一些東西回來，但不是 Antonia 要他買的那些。她說了三樣她之前提過的東西，因此她用 the。「檸檬在哪？雞蛋呢？奶油呢？」
The first time she mentioned the items, when they were new, so to speak, she said "a lemon," "eggs," and "butter." But when she mentions them again, they're old, so she said "the lemon," "the eggs," and "the butter."
她第一次提到這些物品時，可以說那些東西是新的，她說 a lemon(一顆檸檬)、eggs(雞蛋)和butter(奶油)。但當她又再次提到這些東西時，它們已經出現過了，所以她說 the lemon(檸檬)、the eggs(雞蛋)以及 the butter(奶油)。
Okay, now it's your turn. Here's a couple in a restaurant, talking to the waiter. In the spaces, we need "a," "the," or nothing. You have 10 seconds to think about it. You can pause the video if you want more time. Okay, here we go.
好，輪到你了。這裡有一對夫妻在餐廳裡，他們正在和服務生說話。空格內，我們需要填上 a、the 或什麼都不填。你有十秒的思考時間。如果你想要有更多時間的話，你可以將影片暫停。好，來吧。
"This is a nice cafe."
「這真是間很棒的咖啡廳。」
"Yes, good cafes are hard to find."
「對啊，好的咖啡廳不好找。」
"What's the soup today?"
「今天的湯是什麼？」
"Tomato soup, madam."
「女士，是番茄湯。」
"And we'd like a jug of water."
「我們還要一壺水。」
Okay. Hope you did well. That's all for today. Bye for now.
好了。希望你表現得不錯。今天就到這裡。先說再見了。
