Learn how to ask someone if they need to do something
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Nicole: 大家好, 我係 Nicole. (daai6 gaa1 hou2, ngo5 hai6 Nicole.) |
| David: I’m David. And welcome to CantoneseClass101.com. We’re here at Absolute Beginner Season 2 lesson 3. |
| Nicole: It’s called “Weekend Cantonese Class?” |
| David: We’ve got a dialog here that takes place at school. |
| Nicole: And it’s between two friends. |
| David: And it’s Friday. And they’re speaking casual Cantonese. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 我哋使唔使上堂呀？ (ngo5 dei6 sai2 m4 sai2 soeng5 tong4 aa3?) |
| “Do we need to go to class?” |
| 幾時？ (gei2 si4?) |
| “When?” |
| 聽日。 (ting1 jat6.) |
| “Tomorrow.” |
| 禮拜六？唔使。 (lai5 baai3 luk6? m4 sai2.) |
| “Saturday? No need.” |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: It’s Nicole’s dark secret, it actually happened to you. |
| Nicole: Well it *almost* happened to me. |
| David: It's pretty embarrassing... |
| Nicole: Yeah. My family was sitting having breakfast. I walked in with my school bag. |
| David: That's embarrassing. What did you do? |
| Nicole: Oh... I tried to pretend I already knew it was the weekend... it didn't work. |
| David: The school bag is the gave away... anyway, our vocabulary today is about days of the week. It’s partly new and partly review. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| David Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Nicole 使唔使 (sai2 m4 sai2) [natural native speed] |
| David to do or not to do |
| Nicole 使唔使 (sai2 m4 sai2) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole 使唔使 (sai2 m4 sai2) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole 上堂 (soeng5 tong4) [natural native speed] |
| David to have class |
| Nicole 上堂 (soeng5 tong4) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole 上堂 (soeng5 tong4) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole 聽日 (ting1 jat6) [natural native speed] |
| David tomorrow |
| Nicole 聽日 (ting1 jat6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole 聽日 (ting1 jat6) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole 唔使 (m4 sai2) [natural native speed] |
| David no need |
| Nicole 唔使 (m4 sai2) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole 唔使 (m4 sai2) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole 禮拜一 (lai5 baai3 jat1) [natural native speed] |
| David Monday |
| Nicole 禮拜一 (lai5 baai3 jat1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole 禮拜一 (lai5 baai3 jat1) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole 禮拜二 (lai5 baai3 ji6) [natural native speed] |
| David Tuesday |
| Nicole 禮拜二 (lai5 baai3 ji6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole 禮拜二 (lai5 baai3 ji6) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole 禮拜六 (lai5 baai3 luk6) [natural native speed] |
| David Saturday |
| Nicole 禮拜六 (lai5 baai3 luk6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole 禮拜六 (lai5 baai3 luk6) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole 禮拜日 (lai5 baai3 jat6) [natural native speed] |
| David Sunday |
| Nicole 禮拜日 (lai5 baai3 jat6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole 禮拜日 (lai5 baai3 jat6) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: We're going to do something a bit different today. |
| Nicole: Yeah... it is days of the week day at CantoneseClass101. |
| David: So we're going to learn the words for all the different days of the week. |
| Nicole: Right. |
| David: Monday? Tuesday? We've got you covered. |
| Nicole: Actually, some of this is review. But some of it is going to be new. Let's get started. |
| David: Ok. |
| Nicole: Why don't we do this. You say the English word, and then I'll give you the Cantonese? We can make it a game. |
| David: Ok. |
| David: “Monday” |
| Nicole: 禮拜一 (lai5 baai3 jat1) |
| David: “Monday” |
| Nicole: 禮拜一 (lai5 baai3 jat1) |
| David: “Tuesday” |
| Nicole: 禮拜二 (lai5 baai3 ji6) |
| David: “Tuesday” |
| Nicole: 禮拜二 (lai5 baai3 ji6) |
| David: “Wednesday” |
| Nicole: 禮拜三 (lai5 baai3 saam1) |
| David: “Wednesday” |
| Nicole: 禮拜三 (lai5 baai3 saam1) |
| David: “Thursday” |
| Nicole: 禮拜四 (lai5 baai3 sei3) |
| David: “Thursday” |
| Nicole: 禮拜四 (lai5 baai3 sei3) |
| David: “Friday” |
| Nicole: 禮拜五 (lai5 baai3 ng5) |
| David: “Friday” |
| Nicole: 禮拜五 (lai5 baai3 ng5) |
| David: “Saturday” |
| Nicole: 禮拜六 (lai5 baai3 luk6) |
| David: “Saturday” |
| Nicole: 禮拜六 (lai5 baai3 luk6) |
| David: “Sunday” |
| Nicole: 禮拜日 (lai5 baai3 jat6) |
| David: “Sunday” |
| Nicole: 禮拜日 (lai5 baai3 jat6) |
| David: Really... we're mostly remembering how to count here. |
| Nicole: It isn't rocket science. |
| David: Except for Sunday. |
| Nicole: Right. Sunday is 禮拜日 (lai5 baai3 jat6). |
| David: And we've actually covered this in a previous lesson. |
| Nicole: Right. But there is something new this lesson. |
| David: What's that? |
| Nicole: Is the super-secret, SECOND way of saying the days of the week that only Cantonese speakers know. |
| David: Right. |
| Nicole: Let's start with Monday |
| David: Nicole, let us in on to the secret. What is the secret way of saying “Monday”? |
| Nicole: 星期一 (sing1 kei4 jat1) |
| David: “Tuesday” |
| Nicole: 星期二 (sing1 kei4 ji6) |
| David: “Wednesday” |
| Nicole: 星期三 (sing1 kei4 saam1) |
| David: “Thursday” |
| Nicole: 星期四 (sing1 kei4 sei3) |
| David: “Friday” |
| Nicole: 星期五 (sing1 kei4 ng5) |
| David: “Saturday” |
| Nicole: 星期六 (sing1 kei4 luk6) |
| David: “Sunday” |
| Nicole: 星期日 (sing1 kei4 jat6). It’s really easy, we’re only replacing 禮拜 (lai5 baai3) with 星期 (sing1 kei4). |
| David: Right, so for “Monday”, you can say either... |
| Nicole: 禮拜一 (lai5 baai3 jat1) or 星期一 (sing1 kei4 jat1). |
| David: And for “Sunday”, you say either... |
| Nicole: 禮拜日 (lai5 baai3 jat6) or 星期日 (sing1 kei4 jat6). |
| David: What’s the difference? Is one more formal than the other? |
| Nicole: I wouldn’t say one is more formal than the other. But 禮拜 (lai5 baai1) is more common in Hong Kong, while 星期 (sing1 kei4) is more common in mainland China. |
| David: Ok. Good to know. And with that, we’re done with the vocab session, let’s get to our grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Nicole: Our grammar section today is all about 使唔使 (sai2 m4 sai2). |
| David: This means "to do or not to do". |
| Nicole: Right. |
| David: Or "do you need to do something" |
| Nicole: The subject isn't specified. It could also be “do WE need to do something”, "does IT need to do something" 使唔使 (sai2 m4 sai2). |
| David: so really... "to do or not" |
| Nicole: 使唔使 (sai2 m4 sai2). |
| David: In the dialogue, we heard this in the following sentence… |
| Nicole: 我哋使唔使上堂呀？(ngo5 dei6 sai2 m4 sai2 soeng5 tong4 aa3?) |
| David: “Do we need to go to class?” |
| Nicole: 我哋使唔使上堂呀？ (ngo5 dei6 sai2 m4 sai2 soeng5 tong4 aa3?) This is really common. Or you'll hear people say 使唔使返工呀？(sai2 m4 sai2 faan1 gung1 aa3?) |
| David: “Do you need to work?” |
| Nicole: 使唔使返工呀？(sai2 m4 sai2 faan1 gung1 aa3?) |
| David: “Do you need to work?” or “Do I need to work?” or “Does he need to work?”, etc. |
| Nicole: We can also add the day there... like... 禮拜三使唔使返工呀？(lai5 baai3 saam1 sai2 m4 sai2 faan1 gung1 aa3?) |
| David: “Do I need to work Wednesday?” |
| Nicole: 禮拜三使唔使返工呀？(lai5 baai3 saam1 sai2 m4 sai2 faan1 gung1 aa3?) |
| David: Or maybe “Do we need to work Wednesday?” |
| Nicole: So technically, 使唔使 (sai2 m4 sai2) means... "to do / not to do" |
| David: Right. |
| Nicole: 使唔使 (sai2 m4 sai2) |
| David: We have the positive form of the verb 使 (sai2) followed by the negative form of the verb 唔使 (m4 sai2). And because it is a question, we we get to pick the answer. |
| Nicole: Right. You can answer either 使 (sai2) or 唔使 (m4 sai2). |
| David: That's the easiest answer. Just say the verb. |
| Nicole: Right. 使 (sai2) “we do” or 唔使 (m4 sai2) “we don’t”... ALTHOUGH... it's a lot more common for people to say 要 (jiu3) instead of 使 (sai2), especially in Hong Kong. |
| David: So if your answer is gonna be positive, say |
| Nicole: 要 (jiu3) instead of 使 (sai2). |
| David: It really is not that hard. |
Outro |
| David: And that's our lesson for today, thanks for listening. I’m Matt. |
| Nicole: 我係 (ngo5 hai6) Nicole. |
| David: We’ll see you on the site. |
| Nicole: Bye-bye. |
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