之前在我外祖家的时候
“When I was still living with my grandmother in Tongzhou,”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
对
“Right.”
之前 在 我外祖家 的时候
“When I was still living with my grandmother in Tongzhou,”
母亲和三爷都来了
“Mother and Yanyun both came.”
Direct spoken expression in this communicative setting.
Traditional Chinese culture explicitly distinguishes the paternal line from the maternal line (marked by the prefix 'wai', meaning external).
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
when / at the time of...
Essential temporal marker placed after a clause or time noun to establish a time frame.
maternal grandparents' household
A semi-formal or literary term for one's mother's parental home.
Grammatical particle forming the temporal phrase '...的时候'.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“Your grandfather once said”
“She raised me up.”
“my mother and great-aunt often think of you.”
“I hate to see you leave too.”
“I'll stay at the academy with you.”
“that Grandmother will betroth me to Yao?”