Learn about how to say the five most common Cantonese phrases used in a classroom
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| Matt: Matt here! All About series season 1 lesson 14, Top 5 Cantonese Classroom Phrases. In this lesson, you will learn the five most useful phrases for learning Cantonese. |
| Nicole: There’s no better way to learn Cantonese than to use Cantonese. |
| Matt: So whether you’re attending a class, or if you’re studying at home with some friends, or even studying on CantoneseClass101.com, these phrases will be a wealth of helpfulness to you. |
| Matt: Now here they are… as promised. The top five phrases for you as you begin to learn Cantonese… |
| 唔該講多次。 (m4 goi1 gong2 do1 ci3) "Please repeat that." |
| ……廣東話點講? (... gwong2 dung1 waa2 dim2 gong2) "How do you say… in Cantonese?" |
| 請問… (cing2 man6) "May I ask…" |
| 我聽唔明。 (ngo5 teng1 m4 ming4) "I don’t understand." |
| 你可唔可以講慢啲? (nei5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 gong2 maan6 di1) "Can you speak a bit slower?" |
| Matt: Did you recognize any? Let’s hear these phrases one more time, but slower. |
| 唔該講多次。 (m4 goi1 gong2 do1 ci3) "Please repeat that." |
| ……廣東話點講? (... gwong2 dung1 waa2 dim2 gong2) "How do you say… in Cantonese?" |
| 請問… (cing2 man6) "May I ask…" |
| 我聽唔明。 (ngo5 teng1 m4 ming4) "I don’t understand." |
| 你可唔可以講慢啲? (nei5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 gong2 maan6 di1) "Can you speak a bit slower?" |
| Matt: Let's take a closer look into these phrases for learning Cantonese. Let’s have a look at the first one. |
| Nicole: 唔該講多次 (m4 goi1 gong2 do1 ci3) |
| Matt: Which means "please say that one more time." |
| Now, let’s take a look at the first 2 characters in this phrase. |
| Nicole: 唔該 (m4 goi1) |
| Matt: This is what we’ve learned before, it means “please”. |
| Nicole: 唔該 (m4 goi1) |
| Matt: Now moving on to the next set of word… |
| Nicole: 講 (gong2) |
| Matt: Which means “say”. Now, the final 2 words in the phrase is: |
| Nicole: 多次 (do1 ci3) |
| Matt: “again” |
| Nicole: Altogether 唔該講多次 (m4 goi1 gong2 do1 ci3). |
| Matt: Which means "please say that one more time." And this is so useful because you can use it anytime…outside the classroom as well. |
| Nicole: Right, any time you can’t understand something someone has said and would like to hear it again, just throw out the phrase 唔該講多次 (m4 goi1 gong2 do1 ci3). |
| Matt: Now, the next phrase we have for you is very useful. |
| Nicole: 廣東話點講? (gwong2 dung1 waa2 dim2 gong2) |
| Matt: "In Cantonese, how to say?" Now this one would really expand your learning vocab there, because whenever you don’t recognize how to say something, you can just point to it, and say: |
| Nicole: 廣東話點講? (gwong2 dung1 waa2 dim2 gong2) |
| Matt: Now let’s break this down for our listeners. The first 3 words is really one word altogether. |
| Nicole: 廣東話 (gwong2 dung1 waa2) |
| Matt: Which means “the Cantonese language”. Now, what’s the next word after that in our phrase? |
| Nicole: 點 (dim2) |
| Matt: Which means “how”. Okay Nicole, let’s take a look at the final word. |
| Nicole: 講 (gong2) |
| Matt: Which means “say”. So altogether… |
| Nicole: 廣東話點講? (gwong2 dung1 waa2 dim2 gong2) |
| Matt: Now this is a great phrase. You get to rediscover the world again through Cantonese eyes. |
| Nicole: Yes, you will learn very quickly if you point at things and ask lots of questions. |
| Matt: Right, so you can either use the "point" method, just point and say... |
| Nicole: 廣東話點講? (gwong2 dung1 waa2 dim2 gong2) Or if your counterpart knows some English, you can try it like this APPLE廣東話點講?, which means “How to say Apple in Cantonese?” |
| Matt: That’s right! And my advice is to write it down what you get for an answer, because it’s likely that you’ll be using this again. |
| Nicole: Exactly. In Cantonese, we have an idiom literally saying, "a good memory can't beat a good pencil." It means taking notes is very very important in learning a language. |
| Matt: Right, and this phrase will really help you learn quickly, which is… |
| Nicole: 請問… (cing2 man6) |
| Matt: Which means “please ask”, or “please let me ask”. Now let’s take a look at the first word here… |
| Nicole: 請 (cing2) |
| Matt: Which means “please”. We’ve already learned how to say “please” in a previous phrase… |
| Nicole: 唔該 (m4 goi1) |
| Matt: but with this phrase, we can’t use 唔該 (m4 goi1) because it is a set phrase, so we must say 請問 (cing2 man6) “Please let me ask” |
| Nicole: 請問 (cing2 man6) |
| Matt: Now, not only is this is a great phrase to learn so that you can ask the teacher a question, it’s a great phrase to give a lesson in the importance of tones as well! |
| Nicole: Oh yes, because many people have asked their teachers for a kiss mistakenly, using this phrase. |
| Matt: Yes, "May I ask" quickly becomes "Please kiss me" if your tones are just a little off. So |
| Nicole, please tell us the difference. |
| Nicole: Well, the correct way, as we learned, is "cing2 men6." However, if you get the tones wrong, for example, 請吻 (cing2 men5) or 親吻 (can1 men5), you are actually asking for a kiss! |
| Matt: Okay. Okay, well, that phrase might come in handy as well if you have a hot teacher…but in general, we don’t really want to kiss our teachers. |
| Nicole: Right, so be careful! |
| Matt: Alright, now our next phrase is... |
| Nicole: 我聽唔明 (ngo5 teng1 m4 ming4) |
| Matt: Literally translated as "I hear (but) not understand." |
| Nicole: “I don’t understand”. 我聽唔明 (ngo5 teng1 m4 ming4). |
| Matt: Alright, Nicole, let’s break this down. The first character we’re very familiar with. |
| Nicole: 我 (ngo5) |
| Matt: Which is “I”. The next word we have is… |
| Nicole: 聽 (teng1) |
| Matt: Which is “hear”. This is a high flat tone. The third word we have is… |
| Nicole: 唔 (m4) |
| Matt: Which we’re also very familiar with, this is the negating word, which means “not” in the sentence. If you listen closely, you can tell it’s a flat tone, and this is a very low sounding tone. |
| Nicole: And the last character is… 明 (ming4). |
| Matt: This is also a flat tone. So let’s listen to the entire phrase, said slowly. Pay attention to the last 2 words. |
| Nicole: 我聽唔明 (ngo5 teng1 m4 ming4). Sometimes Cantonese people speak very fast, so they mix the last 2 characters together, 唔明 (m4 ming4). |
| Matt: Alright, so you do have to understand that there are actually 2 words being said there, but they’re just being crunched together. This phrase, too, can be used on all occasions. |
| Nicole: Yes, sometimes Cantonese people assume you can understand everything if you know how to say 你好 (nei5 hou2). |
| Matt: Which is "hello." So keep the… |
| Nicole: 聽唔明 (teng1 m4 ming4) |
| Matt: …up your sleeve. Everyone will forgive you for that blank look on your face. |
| Nicole: The next phrase we’re going to teach is also very handy because Cantonese people tend to speak very quickly at times. 你可唔可以講慢啲? (nei5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 gong2 maan6 di1) |
| Matt: Wow! That’s a little difficult. That means "you can speak slower?" or “can you speak slower?” |
| Nicole: [slowly] 你可唔可以講慢啲? (nei5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 gong2 maan6 di1) |
| Matt: Alright, let’s try to make this a bit easier, let’s break it down character by character. The first word is… |
| Nicole: 你 (nei5) |
| Matt: Which means “you” |
| Nicole: 可唔可以 (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5) |
| Matt: Which means “can or not can”, or “able, or not able to?” |
| Alright, let’s move on to the next part, what do we have, Nicole? |
| Nicole: 講慢啲 (gong2 maan6 di1) |
| Matt: “Speak slower” |
| Nicole: We’re already familiar with 講 (gong2) here because it means “to say” as well. 慢 (maan6) means “slow”; and 啲 (di1)... |
| Matt: Which modifies the previous word, and adds an -er, to make “slow” into “slower”. |
| Nicole: 你可唔可以講慢啲? (nei5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 gong2 maan6 di1) |
| Matt: Can we get rid of some of the characters and make this phrase easier? |
| Nicole: Yeah. The easiest way is to omit the first 5 words, and just say 講慢啲 (gong2 maan6 di1). |
| Matt: Which literally means “speak slow-er”. |
| Nicole: But even to us, it sounds a bit rude. |
| Matt: I think we can get away with it because they know we’re not native speakers. |
| Nicole: If you really want to be polite, you can put 唔該 (m4 goi1) in front. |
| Matt: Which we already learned, it’s “please”. |
| Nicole: So together is 唔該講慢啲 (m4 goi1 gong2 maan6 di1). |
| Matt: Yeah, it’s really fun when Cantonese people slow down Cantonese for you too. Nicole, can you demonstrate for us? |
| Nicole: [slowly] 你想食咩呀？(nei5 soeng2 sik6 me1 aa3) |
| Matt: Which means "What do you want to eat?" I love it. It kind of feels like you’re a little kid again, but actually, it really helps to learn when you slow down the pace. |
| Nicole: Yeah, when you 講慢啲 (gong2 maan6 di1). |
| Matt: “Speak Slower.” |
| The great thing about these phrases is that you can use them right away. |
| Nicole: Yes, so practical! |
| Matt: Hope they helped everyone. Whether you’re in a Cantonese class, or on the streets of China, or in your local Chinatown, try them out. |
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