洗衣服 Doing the Laundry in Chinese

星期六xīngqīliù早上zǎoshang，我wǒ在zài家jiā洗xǐ衣服yīfu。

On Saturday morning I did the laundry at home.

因为yīnwèi这个zhège星期xīngqī我wǒ每天měi tiān都dōu去qù运动yùndòng，所以suǒyǐ要yào洗xǐ的de衣服yīfu很hěn多duō。

Because I went out to exercise every day this week, there were a lot of clothes to wash.

我们wǒmen家jiā的de洗衣机xǐyījī很hěn小xiǎo，洗xǐ一次yí cì要yào一个yí gè小时xiǎoshí。

Our washing machine is small — one load takes an hour.

洗xǐ衣服yīfu的de时候shíhou，我wǒ在zài旁边pángbiān看kàn书shū，喝hē了le一杯yì bēi茶chá。

While the clothes were washing, I read a book next to it and drank a cup of tea.

一个yí gè小时xiǎoshí以后yǐhòu，衣服yīfu都dōu洗xǐ好hǎo了le。

An hour later, all the clothes were washed.

今天jīntiān外面wàimiàn没méi下雨xià yǔ，衣服yīfu很hěn快kuài就jiù好hǎo了le。

It didn't rain today, so the clothes were ready very quickly.

明天míngtiān去qù上班shàngbān，我wǒ可以kěyǐ穿chuān干净gānjìng的de白bái衣服yīfu了le。

Tomorrow at work I can wear clean white clothes.

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Key words 生词

洗衣机xǐyījīwashing machine

因为yīnwèibecause

所以suǒyǐso; therefore

运动yùndòngto exercise

以后yǐhòuafter; later

上班shàngbānto go to work

因为…，所以… — because …, so …

Chinese usually keeps BOTH halves of the pair, while English drops one of them. 因为 opens the reason, 所以 opens the result.

因为下雨了，所以我们没出去。 — Because it rained, we didn't go out.

verb + 一次 — counting times

次 counts how many times an action happens, and it goes after the verb: 洗一次 (wash one load), 去过两次 (been there twice).

这件衣服我洗了两次。 — I washed this shirt twice.

就 — sooner than expected

就 before the verb says something happened fast or earlier than you would think: 很快就好了 (it was ready in no time).

衣服很快就好了。 — The clothes were ready in no time.

1. Why were there so many clothes to wash?

2. How long does one load take in their washing machine?

3. What did the writer do while the clothes were washing?

After this reading

I'm Fei, and I teach Mandarin one-on-one on Preply. Bring this text to a trial lesson — we'll fix your tones and turn it into a real conversation.