Learn how to ask, "What are you doing?"
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| Introduction |
| Eric: Welcome to 3-Minute Cantonese Season 1, Lesson 12 - Asking What Someone is Doing. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask and answer the question What are you doing? in Cantonese. |
| Body |
| Eric: Here's the way to ask 'What are you doing?' in Cantonese. |
| Olivia: [Normal] 你做緊乜嘢？( nei5 zou6 gan2 mat1 je5) |
| Eric: First is a pronoun meaning ‘you' |
| Olivia: [Normal] 你 [Slow] 你 (nei5) |
| Eric: Next is the verb meaning 'do' |
| Olivia: [Normal] 做 [Slow] 做(zou6) |
| Eric: Next is the marker of continuous tense. |
| Olivia: [Normal] 緊 [Slow] 緊(gan2) |
| Eric: Next is the word meaning 'what' |
| Olivia: [Normal] 乜 [Slow] 乜(mat1) |
| Eric: Last is the noun meaning 'thing' |
| Olivia: [Normal] 嘢 [Slow] 嘢(je5) |
| Eric: Listen again to the question meaning 'What are you doing?' |
| Olivia: [Slow] 你做緊乜嘢？ [Normal] 你做緊乜嘢？( nei5 zou6 gan2 mat1 je5) |
| Eric: Now, here's another way to ask, 'What are you doing?' |
| Olivia: [Normal] 你做緊咩?(nei5 zou6 gan2 me1) |
| Eric: First is a pronoun meaning 'You' |
| Olivia: [Normal] 你 [Slow] 你 (nei5) |
| Eric: Next is the verb meaning 'do' |
| Olivia: [Normal] 做 [Slow] 做(zou6) |
| Eric: Next is the continuous tense. |
| Olivia: [Normal] 緊 [Slow] 緊(gan2) |
| Eric: Last is the word meaning 'what' |
| Olivia: [Normal] 咩 [Slow] 咩(me1) |
| Eric: Listen again to the question meaning 'What are you doing?' |
| Olivia: [Slow] 你做緊咩? [Normal] 你做緊咩?(nei5 zou6 gan2 me1) |
| Eric: Here's a response meaning 'I’m studying.' |
| Olivia: [Normal] 我溫緊書。(ngo5 wan1 gan2 syu1) |
| Eric: First is a pronoun meaning 'I' |
| Olivia: [Normal] 我 [Slow] 我(ngo5) |
| Eric: Next is the verb meaning 'to review ' |
| Olivia: [Normal] 溫 [Slow] 溫(wan1) |
| Eric: Next is the continuous tense. |
| Olivia: [Normal] 緊 [Slow] 緊(gan2) |
| Eric: Last is the noun meaning 'book' |
| Olivia: [Normal] 書 [Slow] 書(syu1) |
| Eric: Listen again to the response, 'I’m studying.' |
| Olivia: [Slow] 我溫緊書。 [Normal] 我溫緊書。(ngo5 wan1 gan2 syu1) |
| Eric: Here's a response meaning, 'I'm doing nothing special.' |
| Olivia: [Normal] 冇乜特別嘢。(mou5 mat1 dak6 bit6 je5) |
| Eric: First is a verb meaning 'Nothing' |
| Olivia: [Normal] 冇 [Slow] 冇(mou5) |
| Eric: Next is the word meaning 'what' |
| Olivia: [Normal] 乜 [Slow] 乜(mat1) |
| Eric: Next is the adjective meaning 'special' |
| Olivia: [Normal] 特別 [Slow] 特別(dak6 bit6) |
| Eric: Last is the noun meaning 'thing' |
| Olivia: [Normal] 嘢 [Slow] 嘢(je5) |
| Eric: Listen again to the response meaning 'I'm doing nothing special.' |
| Olivia: [Slow] 冇乜特別嘢。 [Normal] 冇乜特別嘢。(mou5 mat1 dak6 bit6 je5) |
| Cultural Insight |
| Eric: Now it's time for a quick cultural insight. |
| Olivia: Be careful because, in Cantonese, we don’t use hai6 meaning “to be” before verbs, only before nouns. For example, it’s wrong to say 我係溫緊書(ngo5 hai6 wan1 gan2 syu1) when you want to say “I’m studying”. It should be just 我溫緊書 (ngo5 wan1 gan2 syu1), literally “I studying”. |
Outro |
|---|
| Eric: And that’s all for this lesson. Don’t forget to check out the lesson notes, and we’ll see you in the next lesson! |
| Olivia: 拜拜! (baai1 baai3) |
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