等公共汽车 Waiting for the Bus

每天měi tiān早上zǎoshang，我wǒ坐zuò公共汽车gōnggòng qìchē去qù上班shàngbān。

Every morning I take the bus to work.

今天jīntiān是shì阴天yīntiān，等děng车chē的de人rén非常fēicháng多duō。

Today is overcast, and there are a lot of people waiting for the bus.

我wǒ等děng了le三十sānshí分钟fēnzhōng，公共汽车gōnggòng qìchē还hái没méi来lái。

I waited for thirty minutes, and the bus still hadn't come.

旁边pángbiān一个yí ge女孩儿nǚháir问wèn我wǒ：“你nǐ也yě在zài等děng三路sān lù车chē吗ma？”

A girl next to me asked, "Are you waiting for the route 3 bus too?"

我们wǒmen一起yìqǐ说话shuōhuà，等děng车chē的de时间shíjiān过guò得de很hěn快kuài。

We chatted together, and the waiting time passed quickly.

车chē来lái的de时候shíhou，大家dàjiā都dōu很hěn高兴gāoxìng。

When the bus came, everyone was very happy.

虽然suīrán我wǒ等děng了le很hěn长cháng时间shíjiān，但是dànshì我wǒ认识rènshi了le一个yí ge新xīn朋友péngyou。

Although I waited a long time, I made a new friend.

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Key words 生词

等děngto wait

公共汽车gōnggòng qìchēbus

阴天yīntiānovercast day

非常fēichángvery; extremely

时间shíjiāntime

新xīnnew

还没 + verb — not yet

还没 before a verb means something has still not happened: 车还没来 (the bus hasn't come yet).

公共汽车还没来。— The bus still hasn't come.

虽然…但是… — although… but…

虽然 starts the first clause and 但是 starts the second; unlike English, both words appear together.

虽然等了很长时间，但是我很高兴。— Although I waited a long time, I was happy.

1. What was the weather like today?

2. How long had the writer waited when the bus still hadn't come?

3. What good thing came out of the long wait?

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.