Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

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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