Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

Intro

David: Welcome to CantoneseClass101. I'm David.
Nicole: Again.
David: Yes. I'm here again. Matt is off this week, but we promise he will be back next week.
Nicole: We promise. 大家好 (daai6 gaa1 hou2), I'm Nicole.
David: Right. I'm joined by Nicole and we've got Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 9 here.
Nicole: That's right. In this lesson, you will learn how to say “this” and “that”.
David: Right. Like last week, the dialogue here takes place in a restaurant.
Nicole: That's right. And it's between two friends
David: Right. It's between two friends here who are ordering dinner. And because they're friends, of course, they are speaking casually. But I mean, this is the way everyone speaks in Cantonese.
Nicole: That's right.
David: So we've got the dialogue. Let's go take the lesson now.
Nicole: Okay.

Lesson conversation

呢個係咩?(ni1 go3 hai6 me1?)
呢個係深井燒鵝。 (ni1 go3 hai6 sam1 zeng2 siu1 ngo2.)
好好食喎! (hou2 hou2 sik6 wo3!)
我都好鍾意食。 (ngo5 dou1 hou2 zung1 ji3 sik6.)
David: One more time, a bit slower.
呢個係咩? (ni1 go3 hai6 me1?)
呢個係深井燒鵝。 (ni1 go3 hai6 sam1 zeng2 siu1 ngo2.)
好好食喎! (hou2 hou2 sik6 wo3!)
我都好鍾意食。 (ngo5 dou1 hou2 zung1 ji3 sik6.)
David: And now with the English translation.
呢個係咩?(ni1 go3 hai6 me1?)
What is this?
呢個係深井燒鵝。 (ni1 go3 hai6 sam1 zeng2 siu1 ngo2.)
This is Sam Jeng roast goose.
好好食喎! (hou2 hou2 sik6 wo3!)
It's really delicious!
我都好鍾意食。 (ngo5 dou1 hou2 zung1 ji3 sik6.)
I like it a lot too.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
David: So whenever I'm in Hong Kong this is basically how I order.
Nicole: What?
David: I point at the menu and I go I want this one, and I want that one!
Nicole: Oh, the point and order method.
David: Yeah. Well Cantonese food taste really good, but honestly, you guys have strange names for a lot of foods.
Nicole: No, we don't.
David: Yeah. You don't want to order the phoenix feet. I learned that one the hard way.
Nicole: You mean chicken feet! I like that.
David: Yes. You guys like a lot of imaginative foods, but didn't say it was chicken feet on the menu!
Nicole: Well, it's....
David: They're playing it up, phoenix. Anyway, lesson learned, Cantonese menus lie. Sometimes it's best to just look at the photos and point and that's actually what we're teaching in this class. So it's the point and order lesson.
Nicole: Right, "this" and "that."
VOCAB LIST
David: Right. So we've got the vocab for you, let's go right to it.
Nicole: Okay.
Nicole: 呢 (ni1) [natural native speed]
David: This.
Nicole: 呢 (ni1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 呢 (ni1) [natural native speed].
Nicole: 呢個 (ni1 go3) [natural native speed]
David: This one.
Nicole: 呢個 (ni1 go3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 呢個 (ni1 go3) [natural native speed]. 嗰 (go2) [natural native speed]
David: That.
Nicole: 嗰 (go2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 嗰 (go2) [natural native speed].嗰個 (go2 go3) [natural native speed]
David: That one.
Nicole: 嗰個 (go2 go3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 嗰個 (go2 go3) [natural native speed]. 燒鵝 (siu1 ngo2) [natural native speed]
David: Roast goose.
Nicole: 燒鵝 (siu1 ngo2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 燒鵝 (siu1 ngo2) [natural native speed]. 好食 (hou2 sik6) [natural native speed]
David: Delicious.
Nicole: 好食 (hou2 sik6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 好食 (hou2 sik6) [natural native speed]. 鍾意 (zung1 ji3) [natural native speed]
David: To like.
Nicole: 鍾意 (zung1 ji3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 鍾意 (zung1 ji3) [natural native speed]. 出名 (ceot1 meng2) [natural native speed]
David: Famous.
Nicole: 出名 (ceot1 meng2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 出名 (ceot1 meng2) [natural native speed]
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
David: Okay. The first word we want to focus on in detail is this one.
Nicole: 呢 (ni1)
David: This.
Nicole: 呢 (ni1)
David: That's “this”!
Nicole: Yeah, literally. 呢 (ni1)
David: Right. Sometimes you're going to hear this as well.
Nicole: 呢個 (ni1 go3)
David: Which has an extra sound on the end.
Nicole: Right 呢個 (ni1 go3)
David: And that means more "this one."
Nicole: Yes. The ending sound 個 (go3) is a measure word.
David: Okay. What are the tones on that?
Nicole: 呢 (ni1) is the first tone, it's high flat tone, the highest.
highest 呢 (ni1). And 個 (go3) is mid flat.
David: Okay.
Nicole: 個(go3). 呢個 (ni1 go3)
David: Great. So you want to point at something and say…
Nicole: 呢個 (ni1 go3)
David: Or just.
Nicole: 呢 (ni1)
David: Which one do you think is more natural, Nicole?
Nicole: 呢個 (ni1 go3)
David: Okay, so go with that one. We've got some sample sentences for you, sentences like this.
Nicole: 我要呢個 (ngo5 jiu3 ni1 go3)
David: "I want this one"
Nicole: 我要呢個 (ngo5 jiu3 ni1 go3)
David: I want this one.
Nicole: Or you can say 俾呢個我 (bei2 ni1 go3 ngo5)
David: "Give me this one."
Nicole: But pay attention to the word order in here.
David: Right ,and let's slow that down too.
Nicole: 俾呢個我 (bei2 ni1 go3 ngo5)
David: Give, this one, me.
Nicole: That's right, 俾呢個我 (bei2 ni1 go3 ngo5)
David: And in all these sentences we can always swap out “this one” and we can put in “that one”.
Nicole: 嗰個 (go2 go3)
David: Right.
Nicole: 嗰個 (go2 go3)
David: What are the tones there?
Nicole: 嗰 (go2) is the second tone. It's a high rising tone like asking a question, 嗰 (go2). And 個 (go3) as we mentioned it's a mid flat tone.
David: Okay. So this is pretty tricky to come out with.
Nicole: 嗰個 (go2 go3) With practice, you'll be fine.
David: Okay. So this is a bit tricky, but you guys have the hang of it by now. We've also got sentences like “I want”. So the sentences we did before we can change. We can say, I want that one.
Nicole: 我要嗰個 (ngo5 jiu3 go2 go3)
David: Or give me that one.
Nicole: 嗰個 (go2 go3)
David: Right. Now, Nicole, what are we going to do if we want to say “these” or “those”?
Nicole: That's very easy. Just replace the measure word 個(go3) with 啲(di1).
David: Which is first tone.
Nicole: That's right, the high flat tone. 啲 (di1), it sounds exactly like the English letter D.
David: Okay, so let's hear “these”.
Nicole: 呢啲 (ni1 di1)
David: Those.
Nicole: 嗰啲 (go2 di1)
David: So “I want these”.
Nicole: 我要呢啲 (ngo5 jiu3 ni1 di1)
David: I want those.
Nicole: 我要嗰啲 (ngo5 jiu3 go2 di1)
David: Give me these.
Nicole: 俾呢啲我 (bei2 ni1 di1 ngo5)
David: Give me those.
Nicole: 俾嗰啲我 (bei2 go2 di1 ngo5)
David: Perfect. Nicole, what if we want to ask question, “what are these?”
Nicole: No problem, 呢啲係咩? (ni1 di1 hai6 me1?)
David: One more time.
Nicole: 呢啲係咩 (ni1 di1 hai6 me1) is literally “these are what”.
David: So what about “those are what”?
Nicole: 嗰啲係咩? (ni1 di1 hai6 me1?)
David: Perfect. We've got another really useful word in this lesson as well.
Nicole: 鍾意 (zung1 ji3)
David: This means “to like”.
Nicole: That's right, 鍾意 (zung1 ji3)
David: So you can say, I like this one.
Nicole: 我鍾意呢個 (ngo5 zung1 ji3 ni1 go3)
David: One more time, I like this one.
Nicole: 我鍾意呢個 (ngo5 zung1 ji3 ni1 go3)
David: How about “I like these”?
Nicole: 我鍾意呢啲 (ngo5 zung1 ji3 ni1 di1)
David: Or “I like that one”?
Nicole: 我鍾意嗰個 (ngo5 zung1 ji3 go2 go3)
David: “I like those”.
Nicole: 我鍾意嗰啲 (ngo5 zung1 ji3 go2 di1)
David: So this is really useful stuff.
Nicole: 呢個 (ni1 go3) and 嗰個 (go2 go3), very useful.

Lesson focus

David: In fact, it's so useful, we are going to be using them in the grammar section today. Our grammar section today is all about, drum roll.
Nicole: That's a weak one.
David: Okay, it's a weak drumroll.
Nicole: Cantonese people don't do drum rolls.
David: Okay. Anyway our grammar section today is about a new way to ask and answer questions.
Nicole: It's asking questions part two!
David: Yes. If you remember, in our last lesson we learned.
Nicole: 有咩 (jau5 me1)
David: We taught you this means “what” or “ is there any ?”
Nicole: That's right 有咩 (jau5 me1) you can add a noun or a verb after that.
David: Right. As in the sentence.
Nicole: 有咩問題? (jau5 me1 man6 tai4?)
David: Is there a problem?
Nicole: 有咩問題? (jau5 me1 man6 tai4?)
David: And literally, that's "to have."
Nicole: 有 (jau5)
David: "What."
Nicole: 咩 (me1)
David: "Problem."
Nicole: 問題(man6 tai4). 有咩問題? (jau5 me1 man6 tai4?)
David: In this lesson, we see a new way of asking questions.
Nicole: 係咩 (hai6 me1)
David: Right.
Nicole: 係咩 (hai6 me1)
David: So basically, these two are pretty close, but the first sound there has changed.
Nicole: That's right. We've gone from 有 (jau5)
David: “To have”.
Nicole: To 係 (hai6)
David: “To be”.
Nicole: That's right. We've gone from 有 (jau5)
David: “To have”.
Nicole: To 係 (hai6)
David: “To be”. Let's hear both of those again, “to have what?”
Nicole: 有咩? (jau5 me1?)
David: “To be what?”
Nicole: 係咩? (hai6 me1?)
David: So this is another kind of question.
Nicole: That's right. We hear this a lot, 呢個係咩? (ni1 go3 hai6 me1?)
David: What is this?
Nicole: 呢個係咩? (ni1 go3 hai6 me1?)
David: What is this?
Nicole: Or 嗰個係咩? (go2 go3 hai6 me1?)
David: What is that?
Nicole: 嗰個係咩? (go2 go3 hai6 me1?)
David: What is that?
Nicole: That's right.
David: And how would we make those plural, let's do that too.
Nicole: Very simple, 呢啲係咩? (ni1 di1 hai6 me1?)
David: What are these?
Nicole: 嗰啲係咩? (go2 di1 hai6 me1?)
David: What are those? So these are really useful thing to know how to say.
Nicole: Definitely.
David: So you can point to something and you can say…
Nicole: 呢個係咩? (ni1 go3 hai6 me1?)
David: And people will tell you what it's called in Cantonese.
Nicole: And you can learn more Cantonese this way.
David: Right, this a really natural way, use this to pick up your vocabulary, especially nouns, very powerful. So you can point this in the menu and you can say, what is this and they're going to tell you it's chicken feet. You'd probably don't want to eat that.
Nicole: No, no, they will tell you, this is phoenix feet, 鳳爪 (fung6 zaau2). And a full sentence sounds like this, 呢個係鳳爪 (ni1 go3 hai6 fung6 zaau2) They say it with pride.
David: Yeah, this is phoenix feet. It's delicious.
Nicole: Yeah.
David: And don't believe them.
Nicole: It is delicious, 好好食 (hou2 hou2 sik6)
David: Anyway, moving on, let's take a look at this sentence from the dialogue.
Nicole: 呢個係咩?深井燒鵝。(ni1 go3 hai6 me1? sam1 zeng2 siu1 ngo2.)
David: So this is the sentence where they're asking about the goose.
Nicole: Yeah.
David: The roast goose.
Nicole: 深井燒鵝 (sam1 zeng2 siu1 ngo2). It comes from a place named 深井 (sam1 zeng2) and they produce the best 燒鵝 (siu1 ngo2) in the world.
David: Yeah. Nicole insisted that we include this word in the lesson even though it's long.
Nicole: Definitely, yeah.
David: She said, people go to Hong Kong, they need to know how to order this.
Nicole: 深井燒鵝 (sam1 zeng2 siu1 ngo2)
David: So send the hate mail to Nicole at CantoneseClass101.com. Anyway, what we want to pay attention to is the word order here. Let's listen to that sentence again.
Nicole: 呢個係咩?深井燒鵝。(ni1 go3 hai6 me1? sam1 zeng2 siu1 ngo2.)
David: And that is literally "This is...
Nicole: 深井燒鵝 (sam1 zeng2 siu1 ngo2)
David: Right. Now, that's a complex sentence. Let's get rid of the noun and listen just to that first section.
Nicole: 呢個 (ni1 go3)
David: This.
Nicole: 係 (hai6)
David: To be or is.
Nicole: 呢個係 (ni1 go3 hai6)
David: Now, in the dialogue, we had the noun right after that. If we ask a question, what do we do?
Nicole: Replace the noun with 咩 (me1)
David: Which means “what”.
Nicole: That's right. So it sounds like this, 呢個係咩? (ni1 go3 hai6 me1?)
David: “What is this?”
Nicole: Or 嗰個係咩?(go2 go3 hai6 me1?)
David: “What is that?”
Nicole: That's right.
David: So the word order here is the same as the statement, and it's the opposite of what you'd expect in English. And it's the opposite of what you get in English.
Nicole: Right.
David: In English, we say, “what is this”.
Nicole: But in Cantonese, you say 呢個係咩? (ni1 go3 hai6 me1?)
David: “This is what?”
Nicole: Remember this.
David: Right. So that's our grammar point for today. It's a new kind of question. Now you know what though, you can ask “what is this?”
Nicole: 呢個係咩? (ni1 go3 hai6 me1?)
David: “What is that?”
Nicole: 嗰個喺咩? (go2 go3 hai2 me1?)
David: And you're getting at the names of the things all around you.
Nicole: Right. That's the way you pick up more Cantonese vocab.

Outro

David: Right. Now before we go, we want to remind you we've got a review track as part of the premium resources on this site.
Nicole: That's right. It's available in the premium section of the CantoneseClass101.com. Just stop by and make full use of it.
David: Yeah. One of the things you want to use this for is you want to use it to actually practice speaking.
Nicole: That's right.
David: Because it's really focused on, you're going to hear a phrase in Cantonese. You're going to have the opportunity to say it.
Nicole: And you can compare your voice to the native speakers.
David: Yeah, you can do that, but I mean also it also gets you to generate the phrases, so it's a little more active than listening to a podcast. So make sure you're working that into your study routine. It's really going to help you make faster progress. With that though, if you have any questions or comments, you can leave us a note on the website or you can send us an email. Contact us at CantoneseClass101.com.
Nicole: That's right.
David: Right.
Nicole: So see you next time.
David: We'll see you next time and remember send the hate mail on Cantonese cuisine to Nicole.
Nicole: I'll reply you with the words of chicken feet.
David: Anyway, that's our lesson for today. Thanks a lot for listening.
Nicole: 唔該,拜拜 (m4 goi1, baai1 baai3)
David: We'll see you next time.

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