Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

Intro

David: Welcome to CantoneseClass101.com. I’m David.
Gimmy: 大家好, 我係 Gimmy。(daai6 gaa1 hou2, ngo5 hai6 Gimmy.)
David: And Gimmy, we’re here today with Beginner Season 1, Lesson 7.
Gimmy: Hot in Hong Kong.
David: Right, and we’re not talking about the weather.
Gimmy: No, it’s about people.
David: Right. It’s about all of the beautiful men and women you’re going to run into in Hong Kong.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: And to ask for their phone number.
Gimmy: Wow.
David: So we’ve got a dialogue that takes place on the streets of Hong Kong. This is casual Cantonese, as always. Let’s listen.

Lesson conversation

靚女,你好索!(leng3 neoi5, nei5 hou2 sok3!)
多謝。(do1 ze6.)
可唔可以俾你電話號碼我?(ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5?)
唔可以。(m4 ho2 ji5.)
David: Once again, a bit slower.
靚女,你好索!(leng3 neoi5, nei5 hou2 sok3!)
多謝。(do1 ze6.)
可唔可以俾你電話號碼我?(ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5?)
唔可以。(m4 ho2 ji5.)
David: And now, with the English translation.
靚女,你好索!(leng3 neoi5, nei5 hou2 sok3!)
A: Pretty girl. You are so hot!
多謝。(do1 ze6.)
B: Thank you.
可唔可以俾你電話號碼我?(ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5?)
A: Can you give me your number?
唔可以。(m4 ho2 ji5.)
B: No, I can't.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
David: So Gimmy, how rude is this in Hong Kong.
Gimmy: I don’t think this is rude, but then if you’re a girl and if you don’t like a guy…
David: Yeah.
Gimmy: That’s okay.
David: So will strangers compliment other people on the streets like this?
Gimmy: They would.
David: Okay. So that’s a bit off in North America, but in Hong Kong, it happens.
Gimmy: It happens sometimes.
David: So if you’re a woman, don’t take offence of it. Anyway, our vocab today is about asking for a telephone number. Let’s get to it.
VOCAB LIST
Gimmy: 靚女 (leng3 neoi5) [natural native speed]
David: Pretty girl
Gimmy: 靚女 (leng3 neoi5) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 靚女 (leng3 neoi5) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 索 (sok3) [natural native speed]
David: Hot.
Gimmy: 索 (sok3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 索 (sok3) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 多謝 (do1 ze6) [natural native speed]
David: Thanks
Gimmy: 多謝 (do1 ze6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 多謝 (do1 ze6) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 可以 (ho2 ji5) [natural native speed]
David: Can.
Gimmy: 唔可以 (m4 ho2 ji5) [natural native speed]
David: Can't
Gimmy: 唔可以 (m4 ho2 ji5) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 唔可以 (m4 ho2 ji5) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 可以 (ho2 ji5) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 可以 (ho2 ji5) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 俾 (bei2) [natural native speed]
David: To give
Gimmy: 俾 (bei2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 俾 (bei2) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 電話 (din6 waa2) [natural native speed]
David: Telephone
Gimmy: 電話 (din6 waa2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 電話 (din6 waa2) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 號碼 (hou6 maa5) [natural native speed]
David: Number
Gimmy: 號碼 (hou6 maa5) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 號碼 (hou6 maa5) [natural native speed].
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
David: Let’s take a closer look at some of these words and phrases. The first one to look at, obviously, is how we say “pretty girl”.
Gimmy: 靚女. (leng3 neoi5.)
David: Pretty girl.
Gimmy: 靚女. (leng3 neoi5.)
David: And for all you women out there, Gimmy, what do you call a hot guy?
Gimmy: A hot guy? That’s easy, 靚仔. (leng3 zai2.)
David: Right, a hot guy.
Gimmy: Yes. So 靚 (leng3) is the adjective for pretty or beautiful.
David: Right. Yeah.
Gimmy: So we just add 女 (neoi5) in the back.
David: Right. So, pretty girl.
Gimmy: 靚女. (leng3 neoi5.)
David: Pretty guy.
Gimmy: 靚仔. (leng3 zai2.)
David: And we have this piece of slang following it.
Gimmy: 索. (sok3.)
David: Hot.
Gimmy: 索. (sok3.)
David: Right. So this is slang in Hong Kong.
Gimmy: It is very Cantonese slang that we use quite often.
David: Right. And it means “attractive” or “beautiful”….
Gimmy: Hot.
David: …or “sexy”. It’s not rude.
Gimmy: No, it’s not. It’s actually very direct.
David: Right. So if you call someone…
Gimmy: 索. (sok3.)
David: …they’re going to take it as a compliment.
Gimmy: For sure.
David: Right. For instance, “wow, you’re so hot!”
Gimmy: 嘩!你好索呀!(waa1! nei5 hou2 sok3 aa3!)
David: Or, “you look really good today.”
Gimmy: 你今日好索喎. (nei5 gam1 jat6 hou2 sok3 wo3.)
David: Right. Gimmy, there are two other really useful words talked about here.
Gimmy: Right. There are two very interesting words here.
David: Right. The first is telephone.
Gimmy: 電話.(din6 waa2)
David: Telephone.
Gimmy: 電話. (din6 waa2)
David: So this is a general word that includes landlines and mobile phones.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: Right. And the second word, of course, is number.
Gimmy: 號碼. (hou6 maa5.)
David: Number.
Gimmy: 號碼. (hou6 maa5.)
David: So we put those together and we have “telephone number”.
Gimmy: 電話號碼. (din6 waa2 hou6 maa5)
David: So Gimmy, let’s say we meet someone who we think is really nice and we want to ask them for their telephone number.
Gimmy: Well, David, in this case, there’s a very useful line in our dialogue, 可唔可以俾你電話號碼我?(ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5?)
David: Which is, “can you give me your telephone number?”
Gimmy:可唔可以俾你電話號碼我? (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5?)
David: Let’s make this a bit less polite by taking out the word for “can”.
Gimmy: 俾你電話號碼我. (bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5.)
David: “Give me your telephone number.” And what’s that sound at the end of the sentence?
Gimmy: 我(ngo5), that’s “me”.
David: Right. So that comes at the end of the sentence.
Gimmy: Right.
David: “Give your telephone number me”.
Gimmy: 俾你電話號碼我. (bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5.)
David: And with that, let’s move on to the grammar section.

Lesson focus

David: It’s grammar time!
Gimmy: Okay. Today we’re going to learn how to ask permission.
David: Right, to do a lot of things.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: It might be giving me your telephone number or helping me with work.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: Let’s get started. Gimmy, we hear someone ask for a permission in this line in our dialogue.
Gimmy: 可唔可以俾你電話號碼我? (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5?)
David: “Can you give your telephone number to me?”
Gimmy: 可唔可以俾你電話號碼我? (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5?)
David: The key part of this question is that first bit…
Gimmy: 可唔可以. (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5.)
David: Can or cannot.
Gimmy: 可唔可以. (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5.)
David: Can you or can’t you?
Gimmy: 可以定唔可以? (ho2 ji5 ding6 m4 ho2 ji5 ?)
David: “Can or cannot.” Right. So we know how to use this to ask for someone’s telephone number. What about some other situations?
Gimmy: For instance, you just want to ask someone for help, 可唔可以幫我忙? (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bong1 ngo5 mong4?)
David: Can or cannot help me.
Gimmy: 可唔可以幫我忙? (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bong1 ngo5 mong4?)
David: “Can you help me out?” Or let’s say something comes up and you need to spend some time off work.
Gimmy: 可唔可以請假? (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 ceng2 gaa3?)
David: Can or cannot take time off.
Gimmy: 可唔可以請假? (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 ceng2 gaa3?)
David: Right. Or returning to the subject in our dialogue, maybe you don’t want a phone number but you want an email address. So you could say, “Can you give me your email address?”
Gimmy: 可唔可以俾你電郵地址我? (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 jau4 dei6 zi2 ngo5? )
David: “Can you give me your email address?”
Gimmy: 可唔可以俾你電郵地址我?( ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 jau4 dei6 zi2 ngo5?)
David: And even if you don’t know how to ask the rest of the question, you can always just come out with can or cannot.
Gimmy: Yes, that’s very useful, 可唔可以. (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5.)
David: And the context will usually make it clear what you want.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: So to review, to ask permission or to ask someone to do something, start your sentence with…
Gimmy: 可唔可以. (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5.)
David: And that brings us to the end of our podcast for today.

Outro

Gimmy: Before we go, David, I want to remind people to create a free account.
David: Right. It only takes seven seconds to get your free lifetime account at CantoneseClass101.com.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: For now though, we are out of time. 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.)

Grammar

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