Learn how to ask rhetorical questions
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to Cantoneseclass101.com. I’m David. |
| Nicole: 大家好, 我係 (daai6 gaa1 hou2 , ngo5 hai6) Nicole. |
| David: And we’re here with Absolute Beginner, Season 2, Lesson 25. |
| Nicole: “Flying on Cathay Pacific” |
| David: Right. This is the airline where we hear services luxuries and the seats are made of gold. |
| Nicole: Yeah. That’s why it is so expensive. |
| David: Yeah, it’s more expensive, but we hear they have really good service, so… |
| Nicole: That’s what I hear, too. |
| David: Yeah, so if you know whether this is true or not, there’s something you’ve got to do for us. |
| Nicole: Leave us a post on Cantoneseclass101.com. |
| David: Right. And let us know if it’s worth it. That being said, our dialogue for today takes place on a plane. |
| Nicole: Between the guest and the steward. |
| David: Right. And the plane is about to take off, so let’s get you right to this dialogue. So it turns out even Cathay Pacific you need to turn off your phone. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: 唔該熄手機。(m4 goi1 sik1 sau2 gei1.) |
| B: 唔通你睇唔到我唔得閒咩？(m4 tung1 nei5 tai2 m4 dou2 ngo5 m4 dak1 haan4 me1?) |
| A: 飛機馬上起飛。(fei1 gei1 maa5 soeng6 hei2 fei1..) |
| B: 哦，好。(ngo4, hou2.) |
| A: 多謝合作。(do1 ze6 hap6 zok3.) |
| A: Please turn off your phone. |
| B: Can't you see I'm busy? |
| A: The plane is taking off. |
| B: Oh, okay. |
| A: Thanks for your cooperation. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Nicole: True. |
| David: The best of the best in Asia and they still won’t let you chat pre take off. |
| Nicole: No. |
| David: Anyway, that’s our dialogue. We’ve got a lot of vocab here, some new, some review. |
| Nicole: Right. |
| David: So, let’s get to it. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Nicole: 唔通。(m4 tung1.) |
| David: “Rhetorical question marker” |
| Nicole: 唔通, 唔通, 睇唔到。(m4 tung1, m4 tung1, tai2 m4 dou2.) |
| David: “Can’t see” |
| Nicole: 睇唔到, 睇唔到, 馬上。(tai2 m4 dou2, tai2 m4 dou2, maa5 soeng6.) |
| David: “Immediately” |
| Nicole: 馬上, 馬上, 起飛。(maa5 soeng6, maa5 soeng6, hei2 fei1.) |
| David: “To take off” |
| Nicole: 起飛, 起飛, 多謝。(hei2 fei1, hei2 fei1, do1 ze6.) |
| David: “Thank you” |
| Nicole: 多謝, 多謝, 飛機。(do1 ze6, do1 ze6, fei1 gei1.) |
| David: “Airplane” |
| Nicole: 飛機, 飛機, 合作。(fei1 gei1, fei1 gei1, hap6 zok3.) |
| David: “To cooperate” |
| Nicole: 合作, 合作。(hap6 zok3, hap6 zok3.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of these words and phrases. The most critical line in our dialogue is the last one. |
| Nicole: 多謝合作。(do1 ze6 hap6 zok3.) |
| David: Let’s hear that again. |
| Nicole: 多謝合作。(do1 ze6 hap6 zok3.) |
| David: You are going to hear this a lot in Hong Kong. |
| Nicole: Right. We are a polite city. |
| David: Right. And in our dialogue, we are hearing this on an airplane. |
| Nicole: 多謝合作。(do1 ze6 hap6 zok3.) |
| David: Right. “Thanks for your cooperation.” |
| Nicole: Mm-hmm. |
| David: The word for “airplane”, of course, is: |
| Nicole: 飛機。(fei1 gei1.) |
| David: Which is also on our vocab section. |
| Nicole: 飛機 (fei1 gei1) is literally a flying machine. |
| David: “Airplane” |
| Nicole: 飛機。(fei1 gei1.) |
| David: And what airplanes do, of course, is “take off”. |
| Nicole: 起飛。(hei2 fei1.) |
| David: “To take off” |
| Nicole: 起飛。(hei2 fei1.) |
| David: And even Cathay Pacific’s planes get delayed on occasion. |
| Nicole: Yeah. |
| David: We hear it’s really great fine. And so, if you’re on a plane you may want to ask “When do we take off?” |
| Nicole: 幾點起飛。(gei2 dim2 hei2 fei1.) |
| David: “When do we take off?” |
| Nicole: 幾點起飛。(gei2 dim2 hei2 fei1.) |
| David: And that’s literally “At what time to take off?” |
| Nicole: 幾點起飛。(gei2 dim2 hei2 fei1.) |
| David: And the answer is hopefully going to be: |
| Nicole: 馬上。(maa5 soeng6.) |
| David: “Immediately.” |
| Nicole: 馬上。(maa5 soeng6.) |
| David: “Right away”. If someone asks you a question “When are you going to do this?”, “When are you going to do that?”, you can answer this as well. |
| Nicole: 馬上。(maa5 soeng6.) |
| David: Right. If you’re in a restaurant and you order something, the waitress or waiter might say: |
| Nicole: 馬上。(maa5 soeng6.) |
| David: Meaning “Your food will be here right away.” |
| Nicole: Yeah. And there’s another more colloquial way to say this. 即刻. (zik1 haak1.) |
| David: One more time. |
| Nicole: 即刻。(zik1 haak1.) |
| David: “Right away.” |
| Nicole: 即刻。(zik1 haak1.) |
| David: And then, when the food does arrive right away or you do take off right away, you should say: |
| Nicole: 多謝。(do1 ze6.) |
| David: “Thank you!”. |
| Nicole: 多謝。(do1 ze6.) |
| David: “Thank you!”. And this word goes right back to the lesson one or two. |
| Nicole: Mm-hmm. |
| David: We hope you haven’t forgot it. |
| Nicole: Mm-hmm. |
| David: Thank you! |
| Nicole: 多謝。(do1 ze6.) |
| David: Okay. In our grammar point, we’re going to cover how to ask rhetorical questions. Let’s get to that! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: Our grammar section today is about making rhetorical statements. |
| Nicole: Right. |
| David: Asking rhetorical questions. In the dialogue, we heard this line: |
| Nicole: 唔通你睇唔到我唔得閒咩？ (m4 tung1 nei5 tai2 m4 dou2 ngo5 m4 dak1 haan4 me1?) |
| David: “Don’t panic!” Okay, that’s a really long sentence for an Absolute Beginner Lesson. |
| Nicole: It is. |
| David: But by the end of this grammar point, you’re going to understand it. |
| Nicole: Mm-hmm. |
| David: To start off, let’s review that phrase “Can’t you see?” |
| Nicole: 睇唔到。(tai2 m4 dou2.) |
| David: “Can’t you see?” |
| Nicole: 睇唔到。(tai2 m4 dou2.) |
| David: What we’ve got after this is an object and then verb. |
| Nicole: 我唔得閒。(ngo5 m4 dak1 haan4.) |
| David: Right. As another example, think of the sentence “Can’t you see I’m working?” |
| Nicole: 你睇唔到我做緊嘢咩？ (nei5 tai2 m4 dou2 ngo5 zou6 gan2 je5 me1?) |
| David: How about “Can’t you see I’m eating?”? |
| Nicole: 你睇唔到我食緊嘢咩？ (nei5 tai2 m4 dou2 ngo5 sik6 gan2 je5 me1?) |
| David: “Can’t you see I’m sleeping?” |
| Nicole: 你睇唔到我瞓緊覺咩？ (nei5 tai2 m4 dou2 ngo5 fan3 gan2 gaau3 me1?) |
| David: And how about an adjective? “Can’t you see I’m busy?” |
| Nicole: 你睇唔到我忙咩？ (nei5 tai2 m4 dou2 ngo5 mong4 me1?) |
| David: If we take a look at our dialogue, the simplified version of that sentence is “Can’t you see I’m not free?” |
| Nicole: 你睇唔到我唔得閒？(nei5 tai2 m4 dou2 ngo5 m4 dak1 haan4?) |
| David: We translated that as “Can’t you see I’m busy?” |
| Nicole: Right. |
| David: Because that’s a really colloquial way of expressing that idea. |
| Nicole: Mm-hmm. |
| David: But here, we’ve got something on the end and something on the beginning, too. |
| Nicole: Yes. |
| David: At the beginning of the sentence we add: |
| Nicole: 唔通 …..? (m4 tung1…..?) |
| David: And at the end of the sentence we add: |
| Nicole: 咩？(me1?) |
| David: And that really makes it this rhetorical question. |
| Nicole: Right. |
| David: It has this, this real emotional sense of “What are you doing bothering me?” |
| Nicole: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 唔通你睇唔到我唔得閒咩？ (m4 tung1 nei5 tai2 m4 dou2 ngo5 m4 dak1 haan4 me1?) |
| David: Right. Let’s practice this with some other examples. “Can’t you see I’m sleeping?” |
| Nicole: 唔通你睇唔到我瞓緊覺咩？ (m4 tung1 nei5 tai2 m4 dou2 ngo5 fan3 gan2 gaau3 me1?) |
| David: “Can’t you see I’m eating?” |
| Nicole: 唔通你睇唔到我食緊嘢咩？ (m4 tung1 nei5 tai2 m4 dou2 ngo5 sik6 gan2 je5 me1?) |
| David: “Can’t you see I’m working?” |
| Nicole: 唔通你睇唔到我做緊嘢咩？ (m4 tung1 nei5 tai2 m4 dou2 ngo5 zou6 gan2 je5 me1?) |
| David: Right. So that’s our grammar point for today. |
| Nicole: Right. |
| David: Now, some of the lines in this dialogue are actually pretty tricky. |
| Nicole: Indeed. |
| David: Yeah, they’re pretty long. And there’s a really great way to review them. |
| Nicole: The line by line tool. |
Outro |
| David: Right. In the premium Learning Center. If you’re a premium subscriber to Cantoneseclass101.com, you can go there and listen to these lines again and again. |
| Nicole: Right. |
| David: If you don’t understand it, listen again. If you still don’t understand it. |
| Nicole: Listen to it again. |
| David: Right. Eventually, you are going to understand. And that’s how you know you’re making progress. For now though, that’s the end of our podcast. As always, if you have any questions or comments… |
| Nicole: Leave us a post at CantoneseClass101.com. |
| David: Or send an email to contactus@CantoneseClass101.com. |
| Nicole: Right. |
| David: And we look forward to hearing from you. I’m David. |
| Nicole: 我係 (ngo5 hai6) Nicole. |
| David: Thanks a lot for listening. |
| Nicole: Thank you. |
| David: Bye Bye. |
Comments
Hide