Learn how to say you aren't able to do something
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to CantoneseClass101.com. I’m David. |
| Gimmy: 大家好, 我係 Gimmy。(daai6 gaa1 hou2, ngo5 hai6 Gimmy.) |
| David: And we’re here today with Beginner Season 1, Lesson 19. |
| Gimmy: Turn Down the Volume. |
| David: Right. Maybe your neighbors upstairs are too loud or maybe your living with a roommate who’s too loud. |
| Gimmy: Then you definitely want to learn these phrases. |
| David: Yes. We’ve got words and phrases about things being too loud or maybe even too soft. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: Our dialogue takes place at home between roommates. And this standard Cantonese as always. |
| Gimmy: Let’s listen to it. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 細聲啲. (sai3 seng1 di1.) |
| 咩話？(me1 waa2?) |
| 我話... (ngo5 waa6...) |
| 聽唔到呀. (teng1 m4 dou2 aa3.) |
| 電視細聲啲! (din6 si6 sai3 seng1 di1!) |
| David: One more time, a bit slower. |
| 細聲啲. (sai3 seng1 di1.) |
| 咩話？(me1 waa2?) |
| 我話... (ngo5 waa6...) |
| 聽唔到呀. (teng1 m4 dou2 aa3.) |
| 電視細聲啲! (din6 si6 sai3 seng1 di1!) |
| David: And now, with the English translation. |
| 細聲啲. (sai3 seng1 di1.) |
| A: Turn down the volume. |
| 咩話？(me1 waa2?) |
| B: What? |
| 我話... (ngo5 waa6...) |
| A: I said.... |
| 聽唔到呀. (teng1 m4 dou2 aa3.) |
| B: I can't hear you. |
| 電視細聲啲! (din6 si6 sai3 seng1 di1!) |
| A: Turn down the volume of the TV! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: This is what earphones are for. It’s a Christmas gift for family. Get them a nice pair of earphones. |
| Gimmy: Yup. |
| David: Anyway, our vocab today is all about sound. So tons of words are going to be useful. Let’s get to it. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gimmy: 細聲 (sai3 seng1) [natural native speed] |
| David: Low volume. |
| Gimmy: 細聲 (sai3 seng1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 細聲 (sai3 seng1) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 大聲 (daai6 seng1) [natural native speed]. |
| David: High volume. |
| Gimmy: 大聲 (daai6 seng1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 大聲 (daai6 seng1) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 聽 (teng1) [natural native speed]. |
| David: To listen. |
| Gimmy: 聽 (teng1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 聽 (teng1) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 話 (waa2) [natural native speed]. |
| David: To say. |
| Gimmy: 話 (waa2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 話 (waa2) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 電視 (din6 si6) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Television. |
| Gimmy: 電視 (din6 si6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 電視 (din6 si6) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 收音機 (sau1 jam1 gei1) [natural native speed] |
| David: Radio. |
| Gimmy: 收音機 (sau1 jam1 gei1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 收音機 (sau1 jam1 gei1) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 音響 (jam1 hoeng2) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Stereo. |
| Gimmy: 音響 (jam1 hoeng2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 音響 (jam1 hoeng2) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 音樂 (jam1 ngok6) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Music. |
| Gimmy: 音樂 (jam1 ngok6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 音樂 (jam1 ngok6) [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| David: Let’s take a closer look at some of these words and phrases. In our dialogue, the first line was a request to turn down the volume. |
| Gimmy: 細聲啲. (sai3 seng1 di1.) |
| David: “Turn down the volume.” |
| Gimmy: 細聲啲. (sai3 seng1 di1.) |
| David: That’s not a verb, it’s an adjective. It’s the volume lower a bit. |
| Gimmy: Yes, especially with the 啲 in the back makes it the action. |
| David: It makes it more lower volume. |
| Gimmy: Yes. 細聲啲. (sai3 seng1 di1.) |
| David: Now, if the volume is too soft, you can also request that someone turn it up. |
| Gimmy: 大聲啲. (daai6 seng1 di1.) |
| David: “Turn it up.” |
| Gimmy: 大聲啲. (daai6 seng1 di1.) |
| David: “Please turn it down.” |
| Gimmy: 唔該細聲啲. (m4 goi1 sai3 seng1 di1.) |
| David: “Please turn it up.” |
| Gimmy: 唔該大聲啲. (m4 goi1 daai6 seng1 di1.) |
| David: The rest of our vocab list has a lot of electronics in it like “television”. |
| Gimmy: 電視. (din6 si6.) |
| David: We’ve run into this in previous lessons. Do you remember television news? |
| Gimmy: 電視新聞. (din6 si6 san1 man4.) |
| David: “Turn down the television.” |
| Gimmy: 電視細聲啲. (din6 si6 sai3 seng1 di1.) |
| David: “Turn down the television.” |
| Gimmy: 電視細聲啲. (din6 si6 sai3 seng1 di1.) |
| David: Which is a bit of an order if you don’t add “please” first. |
| Gimmy: 唔該電視細聲啲. (m4 goi1 din6 si6 sai3 seng1 di1.) |
| David: In addition to television, there’s also the radio. |
| Gimmy: 收音機. (sau1 jam1 gei1.) |
| David: “Radio.” |
| Gimmy: 收音機. (sau1 jam1 gei1.) |
| David: I don’t use the radio much these days, but I will use an mp3 player. |
| Gimmy: Same here. |
| David: Yeah. And in Hong Kong, this one’s easy. It’s a give-away. |
| Gimmy: Right, because they’re called MP三 (saam1). |
| David: Which is mp3. |
| Gimmy: Right, MP三 (saam1). |
| David: Right. So if you’re sharing an mp3 player with a friend, you can ask them, “Please turn up the volume on the mp3 player.” |
| Gimmy: 唔該MP三大聲啲. (m4 goi1 MP saam1 daai6 seng1 di1.) |
| David: What about tools like the iPod or the iPad? |
| Gimmy: In Hong Kong, we’ll just say iPad and iPod. |
| David: Okay. There is a Cantonese word for music, though. |
| Gimmy: 音樂. (jam1 ngok6.) |
| David: Music. |
| Gimmy: 音樂. (jam1 ngok6.) |
| David: “Please turn up the music.” |
| Gimmy: 唔該音樂大聲啲. (m4 goi1 jam1 ngok6 daai6 seng1 di1.) |
| David: Excuse me, turn down the music. |
| Gimmy: 唔該音樂細聲啲. (m4 goi1 jam1 ngok6 sai3 seng1 di1.) |
| David: So a lot of useful vocab for music lovers. With that though, we’re at the end of our vocab section. Let’s get to our grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
| David: It’s grammar time! Okay, Gimmy, what’s our grammar focus today? |
| Gimmy: We’re learning a new verb complement today. |
| David: Right. We hear this in the following line… |
| Gimmy: 聽唔到呀. (teng1 m4 dou2 aa3.) |
| David: “I can’t hear you.” |
| Gimmy: 聽唔到呀. (teng1 m4 dou2 aa3.) |
| David: The verb complement is…. |
| Gimmy: 唔到. (m4 dou2.) |
| David: And it means, “you can’t achieve something.” |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: So… |
| Gimmy: 聽唔到 (teng1 m4 dou2) means “can’t hear.” |
| David: Means you can’t hear. You’re listening but you can’t hear. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: So, let’s have some more examples. How about “can’t see”? |
| Gimmy: 睇唔到. (tai2 m4 dou2.) |
| David: “I can’t see you.” |
| Gimmy: 我睇唔到你. (ngo5 tai2 m4 dou2 nei5.) |
| David: “Can’t touch.” |
| Gimmy: 摸唔到. (mo2 m4 dou2.) |
| David: “I can’t touch you.” |
| Gimmy: 我摸唔到你. (ngo5 mo2 m4 dou2 nei5.) |
| David: “Can’t eat.” |
| Gimmy: 食唔到. (sik6 m4 dou2.) |
| David: “I can’t eat it.” |
| Gimmy: 食唔到呢個. (sik6 m4 dou2 ni1 go3.) |
| David: “I can’t eat that.” And we might use that if we want to eat it, but we’re too full. “I’m too full, I can’t eat it.” |
| Gimmy: 我太飽, 食唔到. (ngo5 taai3 baau2, sik6 m4 dou2.) |
| David: Right. Another example would be if you can’t go somewhere but you want to go, you might say… |
| Gimmy: 去唔到. (heoi3 m4 dou2.) |
| David: “I can’t go.” |
| Gimmy: 去唔到. (heoi3 m4 dou2.) |
| David: So you want to go but maybe you don’t have a means of transportation. “My car is broken, I can’t go today.” |
| Gimmy: 我架車壞咗，我今日去唔到. (ngo5 gaa3 ce1 waai6 zo2, ngo5 gam1 jat6 heoi3 m4 dou2.) |
| David: Right. “I can’t go.” |
| Gimmy: 去唔到. (heoi3 m4 dou2.) |
| David: Most of the time though, you’re going to use this with listening and seeing. |
| Gimmy: 睇唔到. (tai2 m4 dou2.) |
| David: “I can’t see.” |
| Gimmy: 聽唔到. (teng1 m4 dou2.) |
| David: “I can’t hear.” And what it implies is you want to hear. You’re trying to hear. |
| Gimmy: You’re trying, yes. |
| David: But for some reason, it’s not getting to you. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: Right? Maybe the volume is too low. |
| Gimmy: Exactly. |
| David: “Please turn up the volume, I can’t hear.” |
| Gimmy: 唔該大聲啲, 我聽唔到. (m4 goi1 daai6 seng1 di1, ngo5 teng1 m4 dou2.) |
| David: “Please turn up the volume, I can’t hear.” |
| Gimmy: 唔該大聲啲, 我聽唔到. (m4 goi1 daai6 seng1 di1, ngo5 teng1 m4 dou2.) |
| David: “Please give it to me, I can’t see it.” |
| Gimmy: 唔該俾我，我睇唔到. (m4 goi1 bei2 ngo5, ngo5 tai2 m4 dou2 .) |
| David: “Please give it to me, I can’t see.” |
| Gimmy: 唔該俾我，我睇唔到. (m4 goi1 bei2 ngo5, ngo5 tai2 m4 dou2 .) |
| David: So again, put this verb complement… |
| Gimmy: 唔到. (m4 dou2.) |
| David: …after single character verbs. |
Outro |
| David: So that’s all the time we have today. I’m David. |
| Gimmy: I’m Gimmy. |
| David: Thanks a lot for listening and we’ll see you on the site. |
| Gimmy: 多謝收聽, 網上見. (do1 ze6 sau1 teng1, mong5 soeng6 gin3.) |
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