Learn how to introduce yourself and ask for the names of others
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
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.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
Intro |
|---|
| Nicole: 大家好 (daai6 gaa1 hou2). I'm Nicole. And welcome to CantoneseClass101. |
| Matt: Matt here! Welcome to our Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 1. In this lesson you will learn how to introduce yourself. We've got a dialogue here that can happen pretty much anyplace. |
| Nicole: That's right, a bookstore, a cafe, pretty much anywhere. |
| Matt: So who is this between Nicole? |
| Nicole: It's between two famous Hong Kong movies stars! So they're speaking casually. |
| Male: Okay. Now, let's take a listen to how the dialogue goes. |
Lesson conversation |
| 你好。(nei5 hou2.) |
| 你好。(nei5 hou2.) |
| 我叫偉仔，你呢？ (ngo5 giu3 wai5 zai2, nei5 ne1?) |
| 我叫嘉玲。(ngo5 giu3 gaa1 ling4.) |
| English Host: One more time, a bit slower. |
| 你好。(nei5 hou2.) |
| 你好。(nei5 hou2.) |
| 我叫偉仔，你呢？ (ngo5 giu3 wai5 zai2, nei5 ne1?) |
| 我叫嘉玲。(ngo5 giu3 gaa1 ling4.) |
| English Host: And now with the English translation. |
| 你好。(nei5 hou2.) |
| Matt: Hello. |
| 你好。(nei5 hou2.) |
| Matt: Hello. |
| 我叫偉仔，你呢？ (ngo5 giu3 wai5 zai2, nei5 ne1?) |
| Matt: I'm Tony Leung. And you? |
| 我叫嘉玲。(ngo5 giu3 gaa1 ling4.) |
| Matt: I'm Carina Lau. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Matt: We promised to start people off easy.... |
| Nicole: And we did.... |
| Matt: That was easy? |
| Nicole: Um-hum, but don't worry if you didn't get it. We are going to go through it really, really slowly. |
| Matt: Okay. One quick question first. If I go to Hong Kong, will I really see Jackie Chan on the streets? |
| Nicole: Probably. I see him every day. |
| Matt: But before we talk about Jackie Chan, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| The first word is: |
| Nicole: 你好 (nei5 hou2) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Hello. |
| Nicole: 你好 (nei5 hou2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 你好 (nei5 hou2) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: The next word is? |
| Nicole: 我 (ngo5) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: I. |
| Nicole: 我 (ngo5) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 我 (ngo5) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Next, we have. |
| Nicole: 好 (hou2) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Very. |
| Nicole: 好 (hou2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 好 (hou2) [natural native speed]. |
| Nicole: 叫 (giu3) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: To be called; call. |
| Nicole: 叫 (giu3) [slowly – broken down by syllable]. 叫 (giu3) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Next word. |
| Nicole: 你 (nei5) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: You (singular). |
| Nicole: 你 (nei5) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 你 (nei5) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Followed by. |
| Nicole: 你呢 (nei5 ne1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: And you. |
| Nicole: 你呢 (nei5 ne1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 你呢 (nei5 ne1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: The next one we have is a name. |
| Nicole: 偉仔 (wai5 zai2) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Tony Leung. |
| Nicole: 偉仔 (wai5 zai2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 偉仔 (wai5 zai2) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: And next, another name. |
| Nicole: 嘉玲 (gaa1 ling4) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Carina Lau. |
| Nicole: 嘉玲 (gaa1 ling4) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 嘉玲 (gaa1 ling4) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: So our key vocabulary is all about introducing ourselves. |
| Nicole: That's right. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Matt: So what's our first word in the vocabulary? |
| Nicole: It's 你好. (nei5 hou2) |
| Matt: And that means "hello". |
| Nicole: 你好. (nei5 hou2) |
| Matt: Because this is our first lesson, I want us to really slow this down. Can you say it for us very slowly, Nicole? |
| Nicole: 你好 (nei5 hou2) |
| Matt: And what does that mean? |
| Nicole: 你好 (nei5 hou2) literally means "you" "good". |
| Matt: Right. So to say "you" we say? |
| Nicole: 你 (nei5) |
| Matt: And to say "good" we say? |
| Nicole: 好 (hou2) |
| Matt: You good. |
| Nicole: 你好 (nei5 hou2) |
| Matt: See, Cantonese is really easy. |
| Nicole: Yeah, I told you. |
| Matt: Now, a question for you Nicole, we already learned the word for "me", right? |
| Nicole: Sure. 我 (ngo5) |
| Matt: We heard that in the dialogue |
| Nicole: 我 (ngo5) |
| Matt: So if we want to say "I'm good" can we do the same thing? |
| Nicole: Like 我好(ngo5 hou2)？No. You're crazy. |
| Matt: Come one, now. |
| Nicole: You have to say "very good" or 好好 (hou2 hou2). |
| Matt: So, you just double the word for good? |
| Nicole: Yeah, that's right. That's easy. 好好 (hou2 hou2). |
| Matt: Now, if I want to say I'm very good. |
| Nicole: 我好好 (ngo5hou2 hou2) |
| Matt: What about you're very good. |
| Nicole: 你好好 (nei5 hou2 hou2) |
| Matt: So let's hear these words again. Hello. |
| Nicole: 你好 (nei5 hou2) |
| Matt: I'm very good. |
| Nicole: 我好好 (ngo5 hou2 hou2) |
| Matt: You're very good. |
| Nicole: 你好好 (nei5 hou2 hou2) - that's only grammatically correct, it sounds a bit strange, and weird and unnatural, so don't say that. |
| Matt: So which one don't we want to say? |
| Nicole: 你好好 (nei5 hou2 hou2). |
| Matt: But if we want to say I'm very good. |
| Nicole: You can say 我好好 (ngo5 hou2 hou2). |
| Matt: And that sounds natural. |
| Nicole: That's right. |
| Matt: Now, we're not supposed to learn questions until lesson two. |
| Nicole: Oh yeah? |
| Matt: But this one is pretty easy. And we already know three of the words. |
| Nicole: No, four words. We've learned four words. Matt, pay attention. |
| Matt: You're right. So the first one is hello. |
| Nicole: 你好 (nei5 hou2) |
| Matt: And that's "you". |
| Nicole: 你 (nei5) |
| Matt: And "good". |
| Nicole: 好 (hou2) |
| Matt: For hello. |
| Nicole: 你好 (nei5 hou2) |
| Matt: and... |
| Nicole: and...? |
| Matt: "Very good". |
| Nicole: Yup, 好好 (hou2 hou2). |
| Matt: We're going to go to the grammar section in a bit. Before we do, I want to talk about this last phrase. |
| Nicole: Yup, 你呢？ (nei5 ne1?) |
| Matt: Right. Let's hear it again slowly? |
| Nicole: 你呢 (nei5 ne1) |
| Matt: What is that? |
| Nicole: That's the question that we promised not to teach? |
| Matt: Oh, so we do teach questions in lesson one. |
| Nicole: You know, bonus, bonus question. |
| Matt: And this just means this question just means "And you?". |
| Nicole: Right, 你呢？ (nei5 ne1?) |
| Matt: I'm good, and you? |
| Nicole: 我好好，你呢？(ngo5 hou2 hou2, nei5 ne1?) |
| Matt: So our first lesson and we have already taught you enough Cantonese to chat up Jackie Chan. |
| Nicole: That's right. |
| Matt: First you say hey, Jackie or "hi". |
| Nicole: 你好 (nei5 hou2) Jackie. |
| Matt: Then he'll say, hi back. |
| Nicole: 你好 (nei5 hou2) Nicole. |
| Matt: Wow, he even knows your name, Nicole. Then you can tell him his movies are "very good". |
| Nicole: Yeah, your movies are 好好 (hou2 hou2). |
| Matt: Great. So it's a short conversation, but it is only our first lesson. |
Lesson focus |
| Matt: Now, let's move on to the grammar section, where we'll teach you how to introduce yourself. |
| Nicole: Okay. |
| Matt: Our focus for this lesson is of course introducing ourselves. |
| Nicole: Yup. In the dialogue we heard 我叫偉仔 (ngo5 giu3 wai5 zai2). |
| Matt: Which means, "I'm called 偉仔(wai5 zai2)." |
| Nicole: Um-hum. 我叫偉仔 (ngo5 giu3 wai5 zai2). |
| Matt: "I'm called 偉仔(wai5 zai2)." |
| Nicole: So you see our structure here is really simple. |
| Matt: First, we're saying "I". |
| Nicole: 我 (ngo5) |
| Matt: "am called" |
| Nicole: 叫 (giu3) |
| Matt: And then you put your name in. |
| Nicole: Tell your last name 偉仔 (wai5 zai2). |
| Matt: I am called 偉仔 (wai5 zai2). |
| Nicole: 我叫偉仔 (ngo5 giu3 wai5 zai2). |
| Matt: Another example would be "I'm called Matt". |
| Nicole: 我叫 (ngo5 giu3) Matt. |
| Matt: And for Nicole, it would be I'm called Nicole. |
| Nicole: 我叫藍蔚 (ngo5 giu3 laam4 wai6), that's my Cantonese name. |
| Matt: So people can just put their own names into this sentence, right? |
| Nicole: That's right 我叫 (ngo5 giu3) and then their name. Like, 我叫 (ngo5 giu3) David, 我叫 (ngo5 giu3) Gail, 我叫 (ngo5 giu3) Teddy, whatever.... |
| Matt: This is actually the most common grammar structure in Cantonese. |
| Nicole: Yeah. |
| Matt: First comes the subject. |
| Nicole: 我 (ngo5) |
| Matt: Then the verb. |
| Nicole: 叫 (giu3) |
| Matt: Then the rest of the sentence. |
| Nicole: Like 我叫偉仔 (ngo5 giu3 wai5 zai2) or 我叫嘉玲 (ngo5 giu3 gaa1 ling4). |
| Matt: So these are actually two Hong Kong movie stars, right? |
| Nicole: Yup, they got married last year? |
| Matt: Tony Leung got married? I bet you were disappointed. |
| Nicole: I cried. |
| Matt: Me too. He is sexy. |
| Nicole: Anyway, tell me Matt. Do you understand this sentence? 我叫嘉玲，你呢？(ngo5 giu3 gaa1 ling4, nei5 ne1?) |
| Matt: Of course. Now, let's hear that last bit. |
| Nicole: 你呢? (nei5 ne1?) |
| Matt: This is our question if you remember from earlier in the lesson. |
| Nicole: Yup, 我叫嘉玲，你呢? (ngo5 giu3 gaa1 ling4, nei5 ne1?) |
| Matt: We tell people our own name, then say, "how about you?". |
| Nicole: 你呢? (nei5 ne1?) |
| Matt: I'm very good, how about you? |
| Nicole: 我好好，你呢？(ngo5 hou2 hou2, nei5 ne1?) |
Outro |
| Matt: And that does it for our first lesson. |
| Nicole: That's right. |
| Matt: So stop by CantoneseClass101.com and make sure you pick up the lesson notes. |
| Nicole: It has a conversation transcript. |
| Matt: Vocabulary, sample sentences, a grammar explanation. |
| Nicole: And a cultural insight section. |
| Matt: Seeing the Cantonese… |
| Nicole: …really helps you remember faster. |
| Matt: But don't take our word for it, please have a look for yourself. |
| Nicole: And let us know what you think. |
| Matt: Thanks for tuning in. |
| Nicole: Thank you. |
Comments
Hide