Dialogue

Vocabulary

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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 22.
Gimmy: Leaving Hong Kong.
David: Right. And if you live and work in Hong Kong, it’s really common for people to just leave the island for the weekend.
Gimmy: It’s so convenient.
David: Yeah.
Gimmy: There’s so many places to go.
David: You’ve got Thailand, you’ve the Philippines, you’ve got Bali. It’s really common.
Gimmy: Nice. Yeah.
David: So our dialogue today takes place between two friends and they’re talking with another friend who’s taking the weekend somewhere else.
Gimmy: This is casual Cantonese as spoken in Hong Kong.
David: Let’s listen.

Lesson conversation

A: 佢聽日飛呀? (keoi5 ting1 jat6 fei1 aa4?)
B: 係啩,唔知呀。 (hai6 gwaa3, m4 zi1 aa3.)
A: 飛邊度呀? (fei1 bin1 dou6 aa3?)
B: 我估泰國啩。(ngo5 gu2 taai3 gwok3 gwaa3.)
David: One more time, a bit slower.
A: 佢聽日飛呀? (keoi5 ting1 jat6 fei1 aa4?)
B: 係啩,唔知呀。 (hai6 gwaa3, m4 zi1 aa3.)
A: 飛邊度呀? (fei1 bin1 dou6 aa3?)
B: 我估泰國啩。(ngo5 gu2 taai3 gwok3 gwaa3.)
David: And now, with the English translation.
A: 佢聽日飛呀? (keoi5 ting1 jat6 fei1 aa4?)
A: Is he flying tomorrow?
B: 係啩,唔知呀。 (hai6 gwaa3, m4 zi1 aa3.)
B: Maybe, I don't know.
A: 飛邊度呀? (fei1 bin1 dou6 aa3?)
A: Where is he flying to?
B: 我估泰國啩。(ngo5 gu2 taai3 gwok3 gwaa3.)
B: I guess maybe Thailand?
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
David: Because they have really nice beaches in Thailand.
Gimmy: Nice food, nice massages too.
David: Well, Hong Kong, you’ve got the food, you’ve got the massages, but we’re still working on the beaches. You got to give us a bit of time.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: Anyway, our vocab section today is partly review and partly new. Let’s get to it.
VOCAB LIST
Gimmy: 聽日 (ting1 jit6) [natural native speed].
David: Tomorrow.
Gimmy: 聽日 (ting1 jit6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 聽日 (ting1 jit6) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 今日 (gam1 jat6) [natural native speed].
David: Today.
Gimmy: 今日 (gam1 jat6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 今日 (gam1 jat6) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 尋日 (cam4 jat6) [natural native speed].
David: Yesterday.
Gimmy: 尋日 (cam4 jat6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 尋日 (cam4 jat6) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 飛 (fei1) [natural native speed].
David: To fly.
Gimmy: 飛 (fei1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 飛 (fei1) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 唔知 (m4 zi1) [natural native speed].
David: Not to know.
Gimmy: 唔知 (m4 zi1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 唔知 (m4 zi1) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 邊度 (bin1 dou6) [natural native speed]
David: Where.
Gimmy: 邊度 (bin1 dou6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 邊度 (bin1 dou6) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 估 (gu2) [natural native speed].
David: To guess.
Gimmy: 估 (gu2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 估 (gu2) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 泰國 (taai3 gwok3) [natural native speed].
David: Thailand.
Gimmy: 泰國 (taai3 gwok3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 泰國 (taai3 gwok3) [natural native speed].
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
David: The first thing we want to do is review the words for yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Today is…
Gimmy: 今日. (gam1 jat6.)
David: “Today.”
Gimmy: 今日. (gam1 jat6.)
David: “I’m traveling today.”
Gimmy: 我今日飛. (ngo5 gam1 jat6 fei1.)
David: “I’m traveling to Thailand today.”
Gimmy: 我今日飛泰國. (ngo5 gam1 jat6 fei1 taai3 gwok3.)
David: Just drop and mention of this in conversation and your friends will be impressed, right? And there’s that word “to travel” there.
Gimmy: 飛. (fei1.)
David: “To travel.”
Gimmy: 飛. (fei1.)
David: Literally, this means “to fly.”
Gimmy: Right.
David: But people will use it “I’m going to Thailand.”
Gimmy: Yes, people use 飛 (fei1) a lot in Hong Kong just to refer to traveling.
David: Right. So it is literally “flying”…
Gimmy: 飛. (fei1)
David: …but it means “traveling.”
Gimmy: Right.
David: Is this the same character as the word for “ticket” we ran into before?
Gimmy: No, but it’s the same sound.
David: Right. So “traveling”….
Gimmy: 飛. (fei1.)
David: …sound like “ticket.”
Gimmy: 飛. (fei1)
David: In our dialogue, we have the word “tomorrow.”
Gimmy: 聽日. (ting1 jat6.)
David: “Tomorrow.”
Gimmy: 聽日. (ting1 jat6.)
David: “Is he flying tomorrow?”
Gimmy: 佢聽日飛呀? (keoi5 ting1 jat6 fei1 aa4?)
David: “Is he flying tomorrow?”
Gimmy: 佢聽日飛呀? (keoi5 ting1 jat6 fei1 aa4?)
David: Right. And also the word “yesterday.”
Gimmy: 尋日. (cam4 jat6.)
David: “Yesterday.”
Gimmy: 尋日. (cam4 jat6.)
David: And Hong Kong is one of the few places where you can actually say “I was in Thailand yesterday.”
Gimmy: 我尋日喺泰國. (ngo5 cam4 jat6 hai2 taai3 gwok3.)
David: “I was in Thailand yesterday.”
Gimmy: 我尋日喺泰國. (ngo5 cam4 jat6 hai2 taai3 gwok3.)
David: Although so many people travel, you’re probably not going to impress your friends that much.
Gimmy: Right.
David: We have a couple of new words here, of course. The first is “to fly”…
Gimmy: 飛. (fei1 .)
David: …which also means “to travel.”
Gimmy: 飛. (fei1 .)
David: As in our dialogue, “where are you going?”
Gimmy: 飛邊度呀? (fei1 bin1 dou6 aa3?)
David: So you might ask a friend “where are you going?”
Gimmy: 你飛邊度呀? (nei5 fei1 bin1 dou6 aa3?)
David: “Where are you going?”
Gimmy: 你飛邊度呀? (nei5 fei1 bin1 dou6 aa3?)
David: If I’m not actually taking a plane though, should I use 飛? (fei1?)
Gimmy: No. 飛 (fei1) include the motion of flying but then it’s really flying on the airplane.
David: Right, because you don’t really take a boat places from Hong Kong.
Gimmy: No.
David: Maybe to the mainland.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: The last word we want to highlight is the word “to guess.”
Gimmy: 估. (gu2.)
David: “To guess.”
Gimmy: 估. (gu2.)
David: And in our grammar section, we’re going to talk about guessing and how to sound uncertain.
Gimmy: Right.

Lesson focus

David: It’s grammar time!
David: Gimmy, what’s grammar focus today?
Gimmy: Today, we’re going to talk about guessing and uncertainty.
David: Right. Take a look at this line from our dialogue.
Gimmy: 我估泰國啩. (ngo5 gu2 taai3 gwok3 gwaa3.)
David: “I guess maybe Thailand.”
Gimmy: 我估泰國啩. (ngo5 gu2 taai3 gwok3 gwaa3.)
David: How about “I guess maybe China”?
Gimmy: 我估中國啩. (ngo5 gu2 zung1 gwok3 gwaa3.)
David: “I guess China maybe.”
Gimmy: 我估中國啩. (ngo5 gu2 zung1 gwok3 gwaa3.)
David: So first, we have the subject and then the verb.
Gimmy: 我估. (ngo5 gu2.)
David: “I guess.”
Gimmy: 我估. (ngo5 gu2.)
David: “He guesses.”
Gimmy: 佢估. (keoi5 gu2.)
David: “She guesses.”
Gimmy: 佢估. (keoi5 gu2.)
David: “You guess.”
Gimmy: 你估. (nei5 gu2.)
David: The rest of the sentence is straightforward “I guess Thailand.”
Gimmy: 我估泰國. (ngo5 gu2 taai3 gwok3.)
David: But then we have an extra sound on the end of the our sentence.
Gimmy: 啩. (gwaa3.)
David: It’s this sound that adds this feeling of uncertainty.
Gimmy: Right, 啩. (gwaa3.)
David: Listen to some of the following examples. “Maybe.”
Gimmy: 係啩. (hai6 gwaa3.)
David: “Maybe.”
Gimmy: 係啩. (hai6 gwaa3.)
David: Or “maybe not.”
Gimmy: 唔係啩. (m4 hai6 gwaa3.)
David: “Maybe not.”
Gimmy: 唔係啩. (m4 hai6 gwaa3.)
David: If you’re holding a party and talking about who might come and who might not come, you might have this discussion with a friend.
Gimmy: 我估佢會去啩. (ngo5 gu2 keoi5 wui5 heoi3 gwaa3.)
David: “I guess he might go.”
Gimmy: 我估佢會嚟啩. (ngo5 gu2 keoi5 wui5 lei4 gwaa3 .)
David: “I guess he might come.”
Gimmy: 我估佢會嚟啩. (ngo5 gu2 keoi5 wui5 lei4 gwaa3.)
David: Right. Or let’s say you’re planning a night out. Maybe you’re trying to decide what to do. You could say, “Well, I guess maybe a restaurant.”
Gimmy: 我估去餐廳啩. (ngo5 gu2 heoi3 caan1 teng1 gwaa3.)
David: “I guess maybe a restaurant.”
Gimmy: 我估去餐廳啩. (ngo5 gu2 heoi3 caan1 teng1 gwaa3.)
David: Or maybe you’re talking about a new friend and you’re guessing what his job is. You asked a friend, “What does he do?”
Gimmy: 佢做咩㗎? (keoi5 zou6 me1 gaa3?)
David: “What does he do?”
Gimmy: 佢做咩㗎? (keoi5 zou6 me1 gaa3?)
David: But they don’t know either or maybe they only have…
Gimmy: Some clue.
David: Yeah, a couple of clues. He’s always traveling. They might say….
Gimmy: 佢可能係機師啩. (keoi5 ho2 nang4 hai6 gei1 si1 gwaa3.)
David: “I guess maybe a pilot.”
Gimmy: 我估佢可能係機師啩. (ngo5 gu2 keoi5 ho2 nang4 hai6 gei1 si1 gwaa3.)
David: “I guess maybe a pilot.” So there are two parts to this sentence. The first is….
Gimmy: 估. (gu2.)
David: “To guess.”
Gimmy: 估. (gu2.)
David: The second is finishing our sentence with this sound.
Gimmy: 啩. (gwaa3.)
David: The second is optional. In our dialogue, the speaker could have just said…
Gimmy: 泰國啩. (taai3 gwok3 gwaa3.)
David: “Maybe Thailand.”
Gimmy: 泰國啩. (taai3 gwok3 gwaa3.)
David: So this is really easy grammar point but using it is going make your Cantonese much more expressive.
Gimmy: Or much more uncertain.

Outro

David: Right. For now though, that’s all the time we have today. I’m David.
Gimmy: 我係 (ngo5 hai6) 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.)

Grammar

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