Dialogue

Vocabulary

Learn New Words FAST with this Lesson’s Vocab Review List

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.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
David: Welcome to CantoneseClass101.com. I’m David.
Gimmy: 大家好, 我係 Gimmy. (daai6 gaa1 hou2, ngo5 hai6 Gimmy.)
David: And we're here Gimmy with Beginner Season 1 Lesson 2.
Gimmy: Yes, Friday in Hong Kong.
David: Right, which is the end of the working week for most people.
Gimmy: For most of them, yes.
David: Yes. So we've got a dialogue that takes place in an office between two colleagues.
Gimmy: And they're exciting.
David: Yes. One of them is getting excited. Let's listen to the dialogue.

Lesson conversation

今日係星期幾?(gam1 jat6 hai6 sing1 kei4 gei2?)
星期五,做咩?(sing1 kei4 ng5, zou6 me1?)
聽日放假喇!(ting1 jat6 fong3 gaa3 laa3!)
David: One more time, a bit slower.
今日係星期幾?(gam1 jat6 hai6 sing1 kei4 gei2?)
星期五,做咩?(sing1 kei4 ng5, zou6 me1?)
聽日放假喇!(ting1 jat6 fong3 gaa3 laa3!)
David: And now, with the English translation.
今日係星期幾?(gam1 jat6 hai6 sing1 kei4 gei2?)
What day is it today?
星期五,做咩?(sing1 kei4 ng5, zou6 me1?)
Friday, why?
聽日放假喇!(ting1 jat6 fong3 gaa3 laa3!)
Tomorrow is a holiday!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
David: So a pretty easy dialogue. It shorten last time, but there's lot of good stuff in here.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: Right? And it's true to life unless…
Gimmy: You need to work six days a week.
David: Yeah, a lot of people in Hong Kong will work Saturday morning. So we hope you're not one of them. That said, let's get to our vocab section.
VOCAB LIST
Gimmy: 今日 (gam1 jat6) [natural native speed]
David: Today
Gimmy: 今日 (gam1 jat6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Gimmy: 今日 (gam1 jat6) [natural native speed]
Gimmy: 聽日 (ting1 jat6) [natural native speed]
David: Tomorrow.
Gimmy: 聽日 (ting1 jat6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Gimmy: 聽日 (ting1 jat6) [natural native speed]
Gimmy: 星期 (sing1 kei4) [natural native speed]
David: Week.
Gimmy: 星期 (sing1 kei4) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Gimmy: 星期 (sing1 kei4) [natural native speed]
Gimmy: 做咩 (zou6 me1) [natural native speed]
David: What.
Gimmy: 做咩 (zou6 me1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Gimmy: 做咩 (zou6 me1) [natural native speed]
Gimmy: 係 (hai6) [natural native speed]
David: To be.
Gimmy: 係 (hai6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Gimmy: 係 (hai6) [natural native speed]
Gimmy: 放假 (fong3 gaa3) [natural native speed]
David: Holiday.
Gimmy: 放假 (fong3 gaa3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Gimmy: 放假 (fong3 gaa3) [natural native speed]
Gimmy: 幾 (gei2) [natural native speed]
David: How many.
Gimmy: 幾 (gei2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Gimmy: 幾 (gei2) [natural native speed]
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
David: Let's take a closer look at some of these words. Now, some of these words are review, like how many...
Gimmy: 幾 (gei2)
David: To be.
Gimmy: 係 (hai6)
David: And week.
Gimmy: 星期. (sing1 kei4.)
David: But we've got a good chance today to review the words for today, tomorrow, and yesterday.
Gimmy: The first one is 今日. (gam1 jat6.)
David: Today.
Gimmy: 今日. (gam1 jat6.)
David: Today. And we hear this in this line in our dialogue.
Gimmy: 今日係星期幾? (gam1 jat6 hai6 sing1 kei4 gei2?)
David: What day is it today?
Gimmy: 今日係星期幾? (gam1 jat6 hai6 sing1 kei4 gei2?)
David: What day is it today? We can use the same word to answer that question.
GImmy: 今日係星期五. (gam1 jat6 hai6 sing1 kei4 ng5.)
David: Today is Friday.
Gimmy: 今日係星期五. (gam1 jat6 hai6 sing1 kei4 ng5.)
David: And we can just swap in the word for tomorrow as well.
Gimmy: 聽日 (ting1 jat6)
David: Tomorrow.
Gimmy: 聽日 (ting1 jat6)
David: In the dialogue, we heard this in the following sentence.
Gimmy: 聽日放假喇!(ting1 jat6 fong3 gaa3 laa3!)
David: Tomorrow is a holiday!
Gimmy: 聽日放假喇!(ting1 jat6 fong3 gaa3 laa3!)
David: Tomorrow is a holiday! But if today is Friday, we could also say, "Tomorrow is Saturday."
Gimmy: 聽日係星期六. (ting1 jat6 hai6 sing1 kei4 luk6.)
David: One more time.
Gimmy: 聽日係星期六. (ting1 jat6 hai6 sing1 kei4 luk6.)
David: So this gives us today and it gives us tomorrow. Gimmy, what about yesterday?
Gimmy: That’s 尋日. (cam4 jat6.)
David: Yesterday.
Gimmy: 尋日. 尋日. (cam4 jat6. cam4 jat6.) So David, if I'm going to say "Yesterday is Thursday," 尋日係星期四. (cam4 jat6 hai6 sing1 kei4 sei3.)
David: Yesterday is Thursday.
Gimmy: 尋日係星期四. (cam4 jat6 hai6 sing1 kei4 sei3.)
David: And in all of those sentences, the dates are the subjects, "Today is..." "Yesterday is..." We can also use them just to indicate the time when something happened, like "Yesterday I gave you a call."
Gimmy: 我尋日打過俾你. (ngo5 cam4 jat6 daa2 gwo3 bei2 nei5.)
David: Yesterday, I gave a call.
Gimmy: 我尋日打過俾你. (ngo5 cam4 jat6 daa2 gwo3 bei2 nei5.)
David: Right. Or if it's Saturday and your boss calls and asks you where you are, you could say, "I worked yesterday."
Gimmy: 我尋日返工. (ngo5 cam4 jat6 faan1 gung1.)
David: I'm not working today.
Gimmy: 我今日唔返工. (ngo5 gam1 jat6 m4 faan1 gung1.)
David: And in these cases, we're putting it at the beginning of the sentence just after the subject.
Gimmy: Right. 我尋日返工. 我今日唔返工. (ngo5 cam4 jat6 faan1 gung1. ngo5 gam1 jat6 m4 faan1 gung1. )
David: Right. So three key words to remember from this lesson.
Gimmy: 今日, 聽日, 尋日 (gam1 jat6, ting1 jat6, cam4 jat6)
David: And that takes us to the grammar section.

Lesson focus

David: Gimmy, what’s our grammar focus today?
Gimmy: We're going to learn how to say "What for?" or "Why?"
David: Right. In the dialogue, we see in this following line.
Gimmy: 星期五,做咩?(sing1 kei4 ng5, zou6 me1?)
David: It's Friday, why?
Gimmy: 星期五,做咩?(sing1 kei4 ng5, zou6 me1?)
David: It's Friday, why? And this isn't really "why" it's sort of "Why are you asking?" We want more information.
Gimmy: Yeah, "what do you want?"
David: Yeah, tell me more.
Gimmy: So we can also ask, "What did you do yesterday?"
David: Right.
Gimmy: 你尋日做咩?(nei5 cam4 jat6 zou6 me1?)
David: You. yesterday, tell me more.
Gimmy: 你尋日做咩?(nei5 cam4 jat6 zou6 me1?)
David: What did you do yesterday?
Gimmy: And often, in an office, we can ask people "Why so busy?"
David: Yeah.
Gimmy: 你做咩咁忙?(nei5 zou6 me1 gam3 mong4?)
David: "Why are you so busy?"
Gimmy: 你做咩咁忙?(nei5 zou6 me1 gam3 mong4?)
David: Or maybe even "It's Saturday, why are you working?"
Gimmy: 你做咩返工?今日星期六。(nei5 zou6 me1 faan1 gung1? gam1 jat6 sing1 kei4 luk6.)
David: One more time.
Gimmy: 今日星期六,你做咩返工?(gam1 jat6 sing1 kei4 luk6, nei5 zou6 me1 faan1 gung1?)
David: So remember, this short phrase…
Gimmy: 做咩 (zou6 me1)
David: We can translate it as "why", or "what," or "what for."
Gimmy: Yeah, asking for more information.
David: Yeah, it really means, "Tell me more."
Gimmy: Yeah.
David: And that brings us to the end of our podcast for today.

Outro

David: As always, Gimmy, there's something you want to remind people.
Gimmy: If you have comments…
David: Leave them on the site. The address once more is…
Gimmy: CantoneseClass101.com.
David: Right. And we're going to look forward to reading your email. That said, we're out of time for today. I'm David.
Gimmy: I'm Gimmy.
David: Thanks a lot for listening and we'll see you on the site.
Gimmy: 多謝收聽. (do1 ze6 sau1 teng1.)

Comments

Hide