Learn top 10 compliments you always want to hear
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.
| Hi, everyone! Welcome to Cantonese Top Words. Today, we are going to talk about top 10 compliments you always want to hear. Everybody loves compliments right? So here we go. |
| 1. 你好靚仔。 (nei5 hou2 leng3 zai2.) “You are handsome.” |
| 靚 (leng3) means “pretty” and 仔 (zai2) is kind of like “boy” so pretty boy handsome. If you want to say it to a girl, you can say 你好靚女。 (nei5 hou2 leng3 neoi5.) “You’re pretty.” |
| Next… |
| 2. 你好叻！ (nei5 hou2 lek1!) “You're smart!” |
| 叻 (lek1) is the adjective for “smart” so you can say to your kids or adults and we all love to hear that. “You're smart!” 你好叻！ (nei5 hou2 lek1!). |
| 3. 你係一個好好嘅朋友。 (nei5 hai6 jat1 go3 hou2 hou2 ge3 pang4 jau5.) “You are an awesome friend.” |
| Are you an awesome friend? 好好 hou2 hou2 means like “very good”, 朋友 (pang4 jau5) is “friend” so 你係一個好好嘅朋友。 (nei5 hai6 jat1 go3 hou2 hou2 ge3 pang4 jau5.) “You are an awesome friend.” |
| Next… |
| 4. 你嘅內在美仲靚過你嘅外在美。 (nei5 ge3 noi6 zoi6 mei5 zung6 leng3 gwo3 nei5 ge3 ngoi6 zoi6 mei5.) “Your inside is even more beautiful than your outside.” |
| 內在美 (noi6 zoi6 mei5) means “inner beauty” and 外在美 (ngoi6 zoi6 mei5) is “outer beauty” like appearance. So 內 (noi6) is “in”, 外 (ngoi6) is “outside”. It sounds very similar but be careful. So 內 (noi6) and 外 (ngoi6) “outside” and (noi6) “inside”. |
| 你嘅內在美仲靚過你嘅外在美。 (nei5 ge3 noi6 zoi6 mei5 zung6 leng3 gwo3 nei5 ge3 ngoi6 zoi6 mei5.) “Your inside is even more beautiful than your outside.” |
| 5. 你嘅履歷好出色。 (nei5 ge3 lei5 lik6 hou2 ceot1 sik1.) “Your resume is impressive.” |
| We usually hear this when we go for a job interview. 履歷 (lei5 lik6) means “resume” or CV. 出色 (ceot1 sik1) means “impressive” so for example, you graduated from Stanford, Harvard and you’re exactly what the company is looking for so they are very impressive and that’s why you get to go to the job interview and they will say, 你嘅履歷好出色。 (nei5 ge3 lei5 lik6 hou2 ceot1 sik1.) |
| Next… |
| 6. 做得好！ (zou6 dak1 hou2!) “Great job! / Good job!” |
| 做 (zou6) is “to do”, 好 (hou2) is “good” so you have done it very well. |
| 做得好！ (zou6 dak1 hou2!) “Good job!” |
| Next… |
| 7. 呢件外套好襯你。 (ni1 gin6 ngoi6 tou3 hou2 can3 nei5.) “That jacket looks nice on you.” |
| 外套 (ngoi6 tou3) is “jacket”. “It looks nice on you.” 好襯你 (hou2 can3 nei5), but literally, it means it goes well, it match you very well. So it looks good, 好襯你。 (Hou2 can3 nei5.). |
| Next… |
| 8. 你好有品味。 (nei5 hou2 jau5 ban2 mei6.) “You have good taste.” |
| 品味 (ban2 mei6) is “taste” or sometimes we say “tei1 si2”, that is the long word from English, 你好有Taste。 (nei5 hou2 jau5 tei1 si2.) or 你好有品味。 (nei5 hou2 jau5 ban2 mei6.) |
| Next… |
| 9. 你嘅笑容好靚。 (nei5 ge3 siu3 jung4 hou2 leng3.) “Your smile is beautiful.” |
| 笑容 (siu3 jung4) “smile”, 靚 (leng3) is “beautiful or pretty”, so 你嘅笑容好靚。 (nei5 ge3 siu3 jung4 hou2 leng3.) “Your smile is beautiful.” |
| Everybody is prettier when they smile so always smile. |
| Next… |
| 10. 你好靚。 (nei5 hou2 leng3.) “You look gorgeous.” |
| So as we mentioned, 你好靚仔。 (nei5 hou2 leng3 zai2.) is for a guy, “You’re handsome.”, and 你好靚女。 (nei5 hou2 leng3 neoi5.) is a for a girl so 你好靚。 (nei5 hou2 leng3.) and 你好靚女。 (nei5 hou2 leng3 neoi5.) are pretty similar. It both means that you’re pretty, you’re beautiful. |
| So that’s it for today. Today, we talked about top 10 compliments you always want to hear. Do you have any compliments that you like to use or you always hear? Let us know in the comment section. Please subscribe and check out the worklist on CantoneseClass101.com and I’ll see you next time. I’m Olivia. Bye! |
Comments
Hide