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Lesson Transcript

nei5 ho2, ngo5 hai6 Olivia. Hi everybody! I’m Olivia.
Welcome to CantoneseClass101.com’s “saam1 fan1 zung1 gwong2 dung1 waa2”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Cantonese.
In the last lesson, we learned how to talk about nationality. In this lesson, we are going to learn how to talk about location or position.
When you want to know where something or someone is, you use the verb hai2 instead of hai6. For example, when someone asks you on the phone nei5 hai2 bin1? That means "Where are you?"
Let's break it down.
nei5 is "You"
hai2 means "are”
And bin1 is “where?”
All together it is nei5 hai2 bin1?
[slowly] nei5 hai2 bin1?
Answering this question is very easy! You just say ngo5 hai2 + the place where you are.
ngo5 means “I” and
hai2 is that verb “to be” again.
Then you add the place. So for example, you can say ngo5 hai2 gaai1 which is "I am on the street"
[slowly] ngo5 hai2 gaai1
Now let’s see a few other possible answers:
"I am in the office" would be ngo5 hai2 gung1 si1.
"I am at the subway station" would be ngo5 hai2 dei6 tit3 zaam6.
"I am home" would be ngo5 hai2 uk1 kei2.
This verb can be used for inanimate objects as well, as long as it is about the location.
hok6 haau3 hai2 jau3 bin1 “school is on the right side”
zi1 bat1 hai2 dei6 haa5 “the pen is on the floor”
Now it’s time for Olivia’s tips
Also with the verb hai2, you can use this convenient question if you are lost in the street: ngo5 dong6 sat1 lou6, cing2 man6 ngo5 hai2 bin1?
That means “I’m lost, can you tell me where I am?
(One more time, slowly: ngo5 dong6 sat1 lou6, cing2 man6 ngo5 hai2 bin1?)
In this lesson we learned how to talk about your location thanks to verb hai2. We have also learned about the verbs hai6, “to be” in the last lesson.
Next time we’ll learn how to use these two verbs in their negative forms in order to say “I’m not”.
I'll be waiting for you with the answer in the next “saam1 fan1 zung1 gwong2 dung1 waa2”.
Haa6 ci3 gin3!

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