Learn how to modify Cantonese verbs and adjectives
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Intro |
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| Nicole: 大家好(daai6 gaa3 hou2). I'm Nicole. |
| Matt: And I'm Matt. Welcome back to CantoneseClass101.com, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Cantonese! Today's lesson is Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 21. |
| Nicole: So what are we looking at today? |
| Matt: In this lesson you will learn how to ask someone to speak more slowly. |
| Nicole: And the conversation takes place on the street. |
| Matt: This is between two strangers, one of whom is learning Cantonese. |
| Nicole: They are strangers and they are speaking casual Cantonese. |
| Nicole: All right, Nicole, let's move right into the dialogue. |
Lesson conversation |
| 唔好意思。(m4 hou2 ji3 si1.) |
| 咩事？(me1 si6?) |
| 我聽唔明呀。(ngo5 teng1 m4 ming4 aa3.) |
| 咁... (gam2...) |
| 你可唔可以講慢啲呀？(nei5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 gong2 maan6 di1 aa3?) |
| 冇問題。(mou5 man6 tai4.) |
| English Host: One more time, a bit slower. |
| 唔好意思。(m4 hou2 ji3 si1.) |
| 咩事？(me1 si6?) |
| 我聽唔明呀。(ngo5 teng1 m4 ming4 aa3). |
| 咁... (gam2...) |
| 你可唔可以講慢啲呀？(nei5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 gong2 maan6 di1 aa3?) |
| 冇問題。(mou5 man6 tai4.) |
| English Host: And now with the English translation. |
| 唔好意思。(m4 hou2 ji3 si1.) |
| Matt: Excuse me. |
| 咩事？(me1 si6?) |
| Matt: What's the matter? |
| 我聽唔明呀。(ngo5 teng1 m4 ming4 aa3.) |
| Matt: I don't understand. |
| 咁... (gam2...) |
| Matt: So... |
| 你可唔可以講慢啲呀？(nei5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 gong2 maan6 di1 aa3?) |
| Matt: Can you slow it down a bit? |
| 冇問題。(mou5 man6 tai4.) |
| Matt: No problem. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Matt: Nicole, do you want to know a secret about Cantonese? |
| Nicole: What secret? |
| Matt: Cantonese might just be the fastest language in the world. |
| Nicole: Stop kidding around. |
| Matt: I'm not kidding. Remember our last lesson? |
| Nicole: The one where he asked 你可唔可以講廣東話 (nei5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 gong2 gwong2 dung1 waa2). |
| Matt: Right. Our speaker asked them to speak Cantonese, and then all of a sudden they start speaking Cantonese and he can't understand it. So you need to know how to ask them to slow it down a little bit. |
| Nicole: Which is exactly what we will teach you today, but first, let's look at the vocab section. |
| Matt: All right, Nicole, let's move right into that, what do we have for our first word today? |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Nicole: 聽唔明(teng1 m4 ming4) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: To not understand. |
| Nicole: 聽唔明 (teng1 m4 ming4)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 聽唔明(teng1 m4 ming4) [natural native speed]. 咁(gam2) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: So. |
| Nicole: 咁(gam2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 咁(gam2) [natural native speed]. 慢(maan6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Slow. |
| Nicole: 慢(maan6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 慢(maan6) [natural native speed]. 講(gong2) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: To speak, say. |
| Nicole: 講(gong2) [slowly - broken down by syllable].講(gong2) [natural native speed]. 快(faai3) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Fast. |
| Nicole: 快(faai3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 快(faai3) [natural native speed]. 勤力 (kan4 lik6)[natural native speed] |
| Matt: Diligent. |
| Nicole: 勤力(kan4 lik6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 勤力(kan4 lik6) [natural native speed]. 啲 (di1)[natural native speed] |
| Matt: The suffix for -er. |
| Nicole: 啲(di1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 啲(di1) [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Matt: Let's take a closer look at the usage of some of these words and phrases. |
| Nicole: All right, the first one is 聽唔明(teng1 m4 ming4) |
| Matt: Not to understand. |
| Nicole: 聽唔明(teng1 m4 ming4) |
| Matt: And if someone says something you don't understand you can say. |
| Nicole: 我聽...。(ngo5 teng1) |
| Matt: Which is I don't understand. And if you do understand you can say? |
| Nicole: 我明(ngo5 ming4) just take out the middle two sounds off. So it becomes 我明 (ngo5 ming4). |
| Matt: Which is "I understand." |
| Nicole: Now let's put all of these together 我聽唔明 (ngo5 teng1 m4 ming4). |
| Matt: I listen but don't understand. |
| Nicole: That's right. 我聽唔明(ngo5 teng1 m4 ming4) |
| Matt: Now if you didn't catch what the person said the first time, you can ask them to speak… |
| Nicole: 慢(maan6) |
| Matt: Or slow. |
| Nicole: 慢(maan6) |
| Matt: This is said with a flat tone. |
| Nicole: That's right. To ask someone to speak slower you can say 講慢啲 (gong2 maan6 di1). |
| Matt: To speak slower. |
| Nicole: 講慢啲 (gong2 maan6 di1). |
| Matt: And we want to point your attention to the last character on this one. |
| Nicole: 啲 (di1). |
| Matt: This means just a little bit and it goes after adverbs and adjectives. |
| Nicole: That's right. But we will go over this more in the grammar section. |
| Matt: Now we threw in another word in that last sentence. |
| Nicole: 講 (gong2). |
| Matt: And this means to be able to, to be able to speak. |
| Nicole: 講(gong2) as in 我講廣東話 (ngo5 gong2 gwong2 dung1 waa2 ). |
| Matt: I speak Cantonese. |
| Nicole: 我講廣東話 (ngo5 gong2 gwong2 dung1 waa2 ). |
| Matt: Now if your Cantonese is not up to speed you may be asked to? |
| Nicole: 快啲 (faai3 di1) |
| Matt: Which is “hurry up”. |
| Nicole: 快啲 (faai3 di1) |
| Matt: And you are really in a rush you can shout. |
| Nicole: 快啲快啲快啲(faai3 di1 faai3 di1 faai3 di1). Yes you have to repeat it three times. |
| Matt: So... |
| Nicole: So what? |
| Matt: So, it's our next vocabulary word, Nicole. |
| Nicole: Oh that's right. So in Cantonese we say 咁(gam2). |
| Matt: And since this is an inquisitive tone, there is usually a response after this. |
| Nicole: Right 咁 (gam2). |
| Matt: This is said with a rising tone, and is like "and then...." |
| Nicole: 咁 (gam2). |
| Matt: So... |
| Nicole: 咁 (gam2). Let's go to the grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
| Matt: All right. Today's grammar point, we're learning how to ask somebody to speak more slowly. |
| Nicole: Or more quickly! |
| Matt: In the dialogue, we heard this. |
| Nicole: 你可唔可以講慢啲？(nei5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 gong2 maan6 di1?) |
| Matt: "Can you speak more slowly?" |
| Nicole: 你可唔可以講慢啲？(nei5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 gong2 maan6 di1?) |
| Matt: "Can you speak more slowly". Now we already know most of this sentence. |
| Nicole: Right 你(nei5) means "you", and then we have 可唔可以 (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5). |
| Matt: That means "can or cannot." |
| Nicole: 你可唔可以... (nei5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 ). |
| Matt: So we're asking a question, "can you...." Can you what? |
| Nicole: 講慢啲(gong2 maan6 di1)。 你可唔可以講慢啲？(nei5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 gong2 maan6 di1?) |
| Matt: To speak. |
| Nicole: 講 (gong2). |
| Matt: And slow. |
| Nicole: 慢 (maan6). |
| Matt: The adjective for slow, and then… |
| Nicole: 啲(di1) |
| Matt: Speak slower. |
| Nicole: 講慢啲 (gong2 maan6 di1). |
| Matt: This is our basic grammar pattern. |
| Nicole: We can use it with any adverb or adjective. |
| Matt: That's right. For example, Nicole. |
| Nicole: 食慢啲 (sik6 maan6 di1). |
| Matt: Eat slower. |
| Nicole: 食慢啲 (sik6 maan6 di1). |
| Matt: Drink slower. |
| Nicole: 飲慢啲 (jam2 maan6 di1). |
| Matt: Go faster! |
| Nicole: 行快啲 (haang4 faai3 di1). |
| Matt: Our structure is exactly the same. |
| Nicole: Right, first our verb and then our adjective and then 啲 (di1). |
| Matt: So if you're a boss in an office, you might tell your employees to? |
| Nicole: 勤力啲 (kan4 lik6 di1). |
| Matt: Work harder! |
| Nicole: 勤力啲 (kan4 lik6 di1). |
| Matt: That's the verb for work. |
| Nicole: 勤力啲 (kan4 lik6 di1). But we can ignore it in here, so you can just say the adjective which is 勤力(kan4 lik6) which means hard. And then we add 啲(di1) to the end, so work harder can be said as 勤力啲 (kan4 lik6 di1). |
| Matt: In our dialogue, we saw this as part of a question. "Can you speak slower?" |
| Nicole: 你可唔可以講慢啲？(nei5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 gong2 maan6 di1) |
| Matt: If you're feeling brave, you can try "Can you speak faster." |
| Nicole: 你可唔可以講快啲 (nei5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 gong2 faai3 di1) |
| Matt: And how about speaking in the negative, Nicole? |
| Nicole: You mean... |
| Matt: "Don't speak slower." |
| Nicole: That's easy. Just make our verb negative. Like 唔好講慢啲 (m4 hou2 gong2 maan6 di1) |
| Matt: "Don't speak slower." |
| Nicole: 唔好講慢啲 (m4 hou2 gong2 maan6 di1) |
| Matt: Great. We covered quite a bit of material today. And that's our lesson! |
| Nicole: But before we go, we want to remind our listeners about a great thing about our site. |
| Matt: That's right. Don't forget to check out our recording tool located in the premium learning center. |
| Nicole: You can record your voice in a click of a button. |
| Matt: Only on CantoneseClass101.com. |
| Nicole: That's right. Thank you for tuning in. I'm Nicole. |
| Matt: And I'm Matt, we'll see you next time. |
| Nicole: 拜拜 (baai1 baai3)! |
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