Learn how to use the Cantonese verb "to be"
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Intro |
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| Nicole: Hi, everyone. I'm Nicole. Welcome to CantoneseClass101.com |
| Matt: Matt here! And welcome back to our Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 3. |
| Nicole: So what are we learning today? |
| Matt: So this is our third lesson, and we're going to learn how to be polite. |
| Nicole: Yes. Cantonese people are really polite, as you can see from me. So you should be too. In our dialogue for today we are in a cafe. |
| Matt: Right. We have an encounter between two strangers. |
| Nicole: So listen carefully to the dialogue because this is the Cantonese that you can start using right away. |
| Matt: All right, let's get started. |
Lesson conversation |
| 唔該，你係唔係偉仔？ (m4 goi1, nei5 hai6 m4 hai6 wai5 zai2?) |
| 唔係。(m4 hai6.) |
| 唔好意思。(m4 hou2 ji3 si1.) |
| 唔緊要。(m4 gan2 jiu3.) |
| English Host: One more time, a bit slower. |
| 唔該，你係唔係偉仔？ (m4 goi1, nei5 hai6 m4 hai6 wai5 zai2?) |
| 唔係。(m4 hai6.) |
| 唔好意思。(m4 hou2 ji3 si1.) |
| 唔緊要。(m4 gan2 jiu3.) |
| English Host: And now with the English translation. |
| 唔該，你係唔係偉仔？ (m4 goi1, nei5 hai6 m4 hai6 wai5 zai2?) |
| Matt: Excuse me, are you Tony Leung? |
| 唔係。(m4 hai6.) |
| Matt: No. |
| 唔好意思。(m4 hou2 ji3 si1.) |
| Matt: Sorry. |
| 唔緊要。(m4 gan2 jiu3.) |
| Matt: It doesn't matter. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Nicole: This is a true to life story. |
| Matt: Really, this is true to life? |
| Nicole: This happened between me and Tony Leung. |
| Matt: But the guy in the dialogue said, no, I'm not Tony Leung. |
| Nicole: I'm pretty sure it was Tony Leung. |
| Matt: It was just some guy on the street. |
| Nicole: He was just denying it. He looked a lot like Tony Leung. |
| Matt: You're making stuff up again, Nicole. |
| Nicole: Sexy. |
| Matt: Who me or Tony Leung, fake Tony Leung. Okay. We all know you'd like Tony Leung, but we have a lot of vocabulary today and it's really useful. So let's stop talking about your fantasies and move on to our vocabulary. |
| Nicole: Okay. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Matt: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this first lesson. The first word is: |
| Nicole: 唔該 (m4 goi1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Excuse me, sorry. |
| Nicole: 唔該 (m4 goi1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 唔該 (m4 goi1) [natural native speed]. |
| 係 (hai6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: To be. |
| Nicole: 係 (hai6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 係 (hai6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Next vocabulary we have is. |
| Nicole: 唔係 (m4 hai6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: To not be or no. |
| Nicole: 唔係 (m4 hai6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 唔係 (m4 hai6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Next, we have. |
| Nicole: 唔好意思 (m4 hou2 ji3 si1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Sorry or excuse me. |
| Nicole: 唔好意思 (m4 hou2 ji3 si1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 唔好意思 (m4 hou2 ji3 si1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Next vocabulary word we have is? |
| Nicole: 唔緊要 (m4 gan2 jiu3) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: It doesn't matter. |
| Nicole: 唔緊要 (m4 gan2 jiu3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 唔緊要 (m4 gan2 jiu3) [natural native speed]. 做 (zou6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: To do. |
| Nicole: 做 (zou6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 做 (zou6) [natural native speed]. 食 (sik6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: To eat. |
| Nicole: 食 (sik6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 食 (sik6) [natural native speed]. 學 (hok6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: To learn. |
| Nicole: 學 (hok6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 學 (hok6) [natural native speed]. 廣東話 (gwong2 dung1 waa2) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Cantonese language. |
| Nicole: 廣東話 (gwong2 dung1 waa2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 廣東話 (gwong2 dung1 waa2) [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Matt: All right, let's take a look at some of the usage for our vocabulary. |
| Nicole: Okay. The first phrase is 唔該 (m4 goi1). |
| Matt: Now, the first word here is pretty easy. We're using that in a lot of the words today. And this together means "excuse me." |
| Nicole: 唔該 (m4 goi1). |
| Matt: But most of the time people will say it more quickly and repetitively. |
| Nicole: 唔該唔該唔該唔該唔該! (m4 goi1 m4 goi1 m4 goi1 m4 goi1 m4 goi1!) |
| Matt: Excuse me, coming through, come through! |
| Nicole: Yup. Actually, 唔該 (m4 goi1) means a lot more than just "excuse me". It means "thank you" and "please". |
| Matt: That's right. It's a very useful word. |
| Nicole: Yup. Like 唔該 (m4 goi1) (help me do this); 唔該 (m4 goi1) (let me through); 唔該 (m4 goi1) (thanks for the help). |
| Matt: So this could pretty much mean everything. |
| Nicole: Yup. If you don't know what to say, say 唔該 (m4 goi1). |
| Matt: Kind of a magic word. Now, if we break this down this magic word, the first sound as I said earlier means "no." |
| Nicole: 唔 (m4). |
| Matt: And the second sound means "should." |
| Nicole: 該 (goi1). |
| Matt: So no should or not should. |
| Nicole: 唔該 (m4 goi1). 唔該 (m4 goi1). |
| Matt: So this literally means, "you shouldn't have". |
| Nicole: Yeah. But we use 唔該 (m4 goi1) to say "excuse me" or "thanks". |
| Matt: When else can we use this useful phrase? |
| Nicole: If you're looking for directions, you can ask 唔該，廁所喺邊? (m4 goi1, ci3 so2 hai2 bin1?) |
| Matt: That's "Excuse me, where is the toilet?" |
| Nicole: 唔該，廁所喺邊? (m4 goi1, ci3 so2 hai2 bin1?) |
| Matt: Now, that's a really useful and I use it quite frequently. So let's hear it again. |
| Nicole: 唔該，廁所喺邊? (m4 goi1, ci3 so2 hai2 bin1?) |
| Matt: There's another common way that we'll hear this question. |
| Nicole: Right, 唔該晒 (m4 goi1 saai3). |
| Matt: Now, I love hearing this just from the way it sounds. |
| Nicole: 唔該晒 (m4 goi1 saai3). |
| Matt: It means thank you very much. |
| Nicole: Right, 唔該晒 (m4 goi1 saai3), thanks a million, thanks a lot, you simply add the 晒 (saai3) to the end, 唔該晒 (m4 goi1 saai3). |
| Matt: But it's really still casual. |
| Nicole: 唔該晒! (m4 goi1 saai3!) |
| Matt: Friends often say this to each other. |
| Nicole: So you can say either 唔該 (m4 goi1) or 唔該晒 (m4 goi1 saai3) |
| Matt: There's a really formal way of saying this as well. |
| Nicole: Yup, its 多謝 (do1 ze6) -- but you won't hear this 多謝 (do1 ze6) too much. So I recommend you say 唔該 (m4 goi1) instead. |
| Matt: Okay, great. Now, moving on, next in the dialogue we hear an apology. |
| Nicole: I said this to Tony Leung! |
| Matt: Fake Tony Leung. |
| Nicole: Good looking Tony Leung, 唔好意思 (m4 hou2 ji3 si1). |
| Matt: Now, that's kind of a long word. Let's hear it again slowly for our listeners. |
| Nicole: 唔好意思 (m4 hou2 ji3 si1) (slow) 唔好意思 (m4 hou2 ji3 si1) (normal). |
| Matt: This means "I'm sorry." |
| Nicole: 唔好意思 (m4 hou2 ji3 si1). |
| Matt: We already know the first sound here, it means "no" |
| Nicole: 唔 (m4). |
| Matt: And we know the second sound as well. |
| Nicole: 唔好 (m4 hou2) |
| Matt: So put together, it means "not good." |
| Nicole: Right. Then we say 意思 (ji3 si1). 唔好意思 (m4 hou2 ji3 si1). |
| Matt: Which means “meaning”. |
| Nicole: Right. 意 (ji3) means "meaning". We're actually saying "bad meaning" 意思 (ji3 si1). 唔好意思 (m4 hou2 ji3 si1). |
| Matt: So if we want to say I'm sorry, I'm sorry? |
| Nicole: 唔好意思 (m4 hou2 ji3 si1) |
| Matt: Bad meaning, bad meaning.... |
| Nicole: 唔好意思 (m4 hou2 ji3 si1) |
| Matt: Now, how formal is this phrase? |
| Nicole: It's pretty casual. It's like I step on your feet casual. There's a stronger word you can actually use for an apology 對唔住 (deoi3 m4 zyu6). |
| Matt: So will people hear this? |
| Nicole: 對唔住 (deoi3 m4 zyu6)? Not unless they do something really, really bad, like throw a cat out of the window or something. |
| Matt: Well don't do that, Nicole. Cantonese people love animals. |
| Nicole: Yeah, we eat them. |
| Matt: We also wanted to highlight this word for you. |
| Nicole: Yeah 唔緊要 (m4 gan2 jiu3). |
| Matt: Let's hear that again one more time slowly. |
| Nicole: 唔緊要 (m4 gan2 jiu3). |
| Matt: What does that mean, Nicole? |
| Nicole: It means, it doesn't matter, 唔緊要 (m4 gan2 jiu3). Literally, it's means it's not important. 唔緊要 (m4 gan2 jiu3). |
| Matt: And again, this also starts with the word "no". |
| Nicole: Followed by 唔緊要 (m4 gan2 jiu3). |
| Matt: And speaking of no, we've got a grammar point all about how to say no in Cantonese. Let's get to that now. |
Lesson focus |
| Nicole: Okay. So today we're going to learn how to say no, and how to ask a simple question. |
| Matt: In the dialogue, we heard this line. |
| Nicole: 你係唔係偉仔？(nei5 hai6 m4 hai6 wai5 zai2?) |
| Matt: Aren't you Tony Leung? |
| Nicole: 你係唔係偉仔？(nei5 hai6 m4 hai6 wai5 zai2?) |
| Matt: Or literally are you or are you not Tony Leung? |
| Nicole: Sounds pretty serious 你係唔係偉仔？ (nei5 hai6 m4 hai6 wai5 zai2?) |
| Matt: Yeah it sounds kind of like an accusation. |
| Nicole: Yeah. |
| Matt: The key part of this is? |
| Nicole: 係唔係 (hai6 m4 hai6). |
| Matt: "To be or not to be." |
| Nicole: sounds like Shakespeare |
| Matt: And this is how we ask a simple question. |
| Nicole: 係唔係 (hai6 m4 hai6). |
| Matt: By presenting both the positive and the negative, to be or not to be. |
| Nicole: 係唔係 (hai6 m4 hai6). |
| Matt: We're actually just asking "are you." |
| Nicole: Right. 係唔係 (hai6 m4 hai6). |
| Matt: The first and the last sound are the exact same characters. |
| Nicole: 係 (hai6). |
| Matt: Which again means 'to be' or it could also be 'is', 'am' or 'are.' |
| Nicole: Yup, because Cantonese doesn't conjugate verbs. How great is that. |
| Matt: Yeah. And the answer to this question is just as easy. |
| Nicole: Right. 係 (hai6). means 'yes', and 唔係 (m4 hai6) is 'no'. |
| Matt: So to answer a question, you just repeat the verb. |
| Nicole: Yup. You can say 係 (hai6). or 唔係 (m4 hai6), yes or no. |
| Nicole: 唔 (m4) |
| Matt: And stick it between two identical verbs. |
| Nicole: True. 做唔做 (zou6 m4 zou6). |
| Matt: to do or not to do or 'do you want to do it'? |
| Nicole: 做唔做 (zou6 m4 zou6). |
| Matt: Good. |
| Nicole: How about 食唔食 (sik6 m4 sik6). |
| Matt: That's to eat or not to eat. |
| Nicole: Right, 食唔食 (sik6 m4 sik6). |
| Matt: And the answer is always "yes". I would like some Dim-Sum. |
| Nicole: 食 (sik6) or 食點心 (sik6 dim2 sam1). |
| Matt: So, let's take a closer look at the word for "no". In the dialog we heard the guy say… |
| Nicole: 唔係 (m4 hai6). |
| Matt: 'No I'm not Tony Leung'. |
| Nicole: 唔係. 唔係偉仔 (m4 hai6. m4 hai6 wai5 zai2). |
| Matt: No, no, I'm not Tony Leung. So just like English, to make a verb a negative, we say? |
| Nicole: 唔 (m4) |
| Matt: Then the verb. |
| Nicole: 係 (hai6) / 唔係 (m4 hai6) |
| Matt: Just put 唔 (m4) in front of any verb. |
| Nicole: Right. Like 唔做 (m4 zou6). |
| Matt: Not to do. |
| Nicole: 唔食 (m4 sik6). |
| Matt: Not to eat. |
| Nicole: 唔學 (m4 hok6). |
| Matt: Not to learn. How about 'not to learn Cantonese'? |
| Nicole: 唔學廣東話 (m4 hok6 gwong2 dung1 waa2). |
| Matt: Come on now, Nicole. That's some horrible advice. |
| Nicole: You said it. |
| Matt: You don't want to tell our listeners that. |
| Nicole: Well. So we can leave out the negative, the negation 唔 (m4). Just say 學廣東話 (hok6 gwong2 dung1 waa2). |
| Matt: Which means learn Cantonese. |
| Nicole: 學廣東話 (hok6 gwong2 dung1 waa2) with CantoneseClass101.com. |
Outro |
| Matt: All right, everybody, thanks for tuning in and we hope to see you next time. |
| Nicole: See you. |
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