Learn how to talk about lengths of time
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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 with Beginner Season 1, Lesson 3. |
| Gimmy: The Hong Kong Music Scene. |
| David: Right. So if you play the guitar or the piano or any other instrument, you're going to like this lesson. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: And our dialogue today takes place between two people, one of whom has musical talent. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: The other probably doesn't. |
| Gimmy: He just doesn't… |
| David: We can guess. Anyway, let's go to the dialogue. |
| Gimmy: Okay. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 咦？你識彈吉他㗎？(ji2? nei5 sik1 taan4 git3 taa1 gaa4?) |
| 少少啦。(siu2 siu2 laa1). |
| 你學咗幾耐呀？ (nei5 hok6 zo2 gei2 noi6 aa3?) |
| 三個月度。(saam1 go3 jyut6 dou2). |
| 彈得幾好喎。(taan4 dak1 gei2 hou2 wo3). |
| 多謝。(do1 ze6). |
| David: One more time, a bit slower. |
| 咦？你識彈吉他㗎？(ji2? nei5 sik1 taan4 git3 taa1 gaa4?) |
| 少少啦。(siu2 siu2 laa1). |
| 你學咗幾耐呀？ (nei5 hok6 zo2 gei2 noi6 aa3?) |
| 三個月度。(saam1 go3 jyut6 dou2). |
| 彈得幾好喎。(taan4 dak1 gei2 hou2 wo3). |
| 多謝。(do1 ze6). |
| David: And now, with the English translation. |
| 咦？你識彈吉他㗎？(ji2? nei5 sik1 taan4 git3 taa1 gaa4?) |
| A: Huh? You know how to play guitar? |
| 少少啦。(siu2 siu2 laa1). |
| B: A bit. |
| 你學咗幾耐呀？ (nei5 hok6 zo2 gei2 noi6 aa3?) |
| A: How long have you been learning? |
| 三個月度。(saam1 go3 jyut6 dou2). |
| B: About three months. |
| 彈得幾好喎。(taan4 dak1 gei2 hou2 wo3). |
| A: You play pretty well. |
| 多謝。(do1 ze6). |
| B: Thanks. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: So you think you know someone and then they start playing the guitar. |
| Gimmy: Do you know how to play guitar? |
| David: I know a bit. I prefer the piano. |
| Gimmy: I see. |
| David: But the guitar has always been... It's a cool instrument, isn't it? |
| Gimmy: Oh, especially when guys play for the girls. |
| David: Anyway, our vocab today is, it's about learning, it's about playing things. But more importantly, it's about time. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gimmy: 彈 (taan4) [natural native speed] |
| David: To play. |
| Gimmy: 彈 (taan4) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Gimmy: 彈 (taan4) [natural native speed] |
| Gimmy: 吉他 (git3 taa1) [natural native speed] |
| David: Guitar. |
| Gimmy: 吉他 (git3 taa1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Gimmy: 吉他 (git3 taa1) [natural native speed] |
| Gimmy: 少少 (siu2 siu2) [natural native speed] |
| David: A little. |
| Gimmy: 少少 (siu2 siu2) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Gimmy: 少少 (siu2 siu2) [natural native speed] |
| Gimmy: 幾 (gei1) [natural native speed] |
| David: How many. |
| Gimmy: 幾 (gei1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Gimmy: 幾 (gei1) [natural native speed] |
| Gimmy: 學 (hok6) [natural native speed] |
| David: To learn. |
| Gimmy: 學 (hok6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Gimmy: 學 (hok6) [natural native speed] |
| Gimmy: 耐 (noi6) [natural native speed] |
| David: A long time. |
| Gimmy: 耐 (noi6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Gimmy: 耐 (noi6) [natural native speed] |
| Gimmy: 多謝 (do1 ze6) [natural native speed] |
| David: Thanks |
| Gimmy: 多謝 (do1 ze6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Gimmy: 多謝 (do1 ze6) [natural native speed] |
| Gimmy: 度 (dou2) [natural native speed] |
| David: About. |
| Gimmy: 度 (dou2) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Gimmy: 度 (dou2) [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| David: Let's take a look at the some of these words in more detail, or actually, let's take a look at one of these words in a lot more detail. |
| Gimmy: Yes. It's very useful. |
| David: Gimmy, which word is this? |
| Gimmy: It's 少少 (siu2 siu2). |
| David: Let's hear that again, slow down. |
| Gimmy: 少少 (siu2 siu2). |
| David: And we used it in the dialogue almost by itself in answer to this question. |
| Gimmy: 你識彈吉他㗎？ (nei5 sik1 taan4 git3 taa1 gaa4?) |
| David: You know how to play guitar. |
| Gimmy: 少少啦 (siu2 siu2 laa1). |
| David: And the answer is, "A little." So first thing, what's that sound at the end? What does it do? |
| Gimmy: It just adds a bit of emotion. |
| David: Right. So the heart of this are these two characters. |
| Gimmy: 少少 (siu2 siu2). |
| David: And they mean "a little" or "a bit." |
| Gimmy: 少少 (siu2 siu2). |
| David: So you can use this in isolation to answer questions. |
| Gimmy: Right, David. In Hong Kong, people may ask 你識唔識中文？ (nei5 sik1 m4 sik1 zung1 man4?) |
| David: Do you know Cantonese? |
| Gimmy: 你識唔識中文？(nei5 sik1 m4 sik1 zung1 man4?) |
| David: Right. Do you know Cantonese? To which you can now answer. |
| Gimmy: 少少啦 (siu2 siu2 laa1). |
| David: Right. Someone might ask you, "Do you know how to play the piano?" |
| Gimmy: 你識唔識彈鋼琴？ (nei5 sik1 m4 sik1 taan4 gong3 kam4 ?) |
| David: Or "Can you use a computer?" |
| Gimmy: 你識唔識用電腦？(nei5 sik1 m4 sik1 jung6 din6 nou5?) |
| David: And hopefully the answer to that is "Yes" if you're listening. But, you know, you can always be polite and say… |
| Gimmy: 少少啦 (siu2 siu2 laa1). |
| David: And this is the trick, it doesn't necessarily mean you only know a little. It means you’re being polite. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: So this is the polite way to say, "Yeah, I understand." |
| Gimmy: 少少啦 (siu2 siu2 laa1). |
| David: Gimmy, what's the opposite? What if we know a lot? |
| Gimmy: We can say 好多 (hou2 do1). |
| David: Very much. |
| Gimmy: 好多 (hou2 do1). |
| David: So if someone asks you… |
| Gimmy: 你識唔識英文？(nei5 sik1 m4 sik1 jing1 man4?) |
| David: "Do you know English?" You can answer… |
| Gimmy: 好多 (hou2 do1). |
| David: A lot. Or, "Do you know how to play the guitar?" |
| Gimmy: 你識唔識彈吉他？(nei5 sik1 m4 sik1 taan4 git3 taa1?) |
| David: And maybe you're an expert and you can say… |
| Gimmy: 好多 (hou2 do1). |
| David: I know a lot. |
| Gimmy: 我識好多 (ngo5 sik1 hou2 do1). |
| David: I know very much. So we've got two key phrases. The first… |
| Gimmy: 少少 (siu2 siu2). |
| David: Means "a little" and it's the polite way to answer. The second… |
| Gimmy: 好多 (hou2 do1). |
| David: It's not polite. But it's not really rude. You're just saying "I know a lot." |
| Gimmy: You're just being honest. |
| David: Right. And with that done, let's get to our grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
| David: Gimmy, what's our grammar focus today? |
| Gimmy: David, we're going to learn how to say time. |
| David: Yeah, we're going to learn to talk about time, specifically lengths of time. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: In our last lesson, we taught you the words for "today." |
| Gimmy: 今日 (gam1 jat6). |
| David: Tomorrow. |
| Gimmy: 聽日 (ting1 jat6). |
| David: And yesterday. |
| Gimmy: 尋日 (cam4 jat6). |
| David: But that doesn't help if you're being asked how long you've done something. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: Like, "How long have you studied guitar?" |
| Gimmy: 你學咗吉他幾耐呀？ (nei5 hok6 zo2 git3 taa1 gei2 noi6 aa3?) |
| David: How long have you studied? |
| Gimmy: 你學咗幾耐呀？ (nei5 hok6 zo2 gei2 noi6 aa3?) |
| David: In the dialogue, we answered the question like this. |
| Gimmy: 三個月度 (saam1 go3 jyut6 dou2). |
| David: Let's take a look at the first part, "three months." |
| Gimmy: 三個月 (saam1 go3 jyut6) |
| David: So we have the number. |
| Gimmy: 三 (saam1) |
| David: The measure word. |
| Gimmy: 個 (go3) |
| David: And then the word for months. |
| Gimmy: 月 (jyut6) |
| David: Three months. |
| Gimmy: 三個月 (saam1 go3 jyut6). |
| David: If this was weeks, the same would apply. |
| Gimmy: 兩個星期 (loeng5 go3 sing1 kei4). |
| David: Two weeks. |
| Gimmy: 兩個星期 (loeng5 go3 sing1 kei4). |
| David: Right. |
| Gimmy: So someone might ask you 你學咗中文幾耐呀？ (nei5 hok6 zo2 zung1 man2 gei2 noi6 aa3?) |
| David: "How long have you been studying Chinese?" And you could answer by saying… |
| Gimmy: 六個月 (luk6 go3 jyut6). |
| David: Six months. Or maybe you're superfast and it's only been four weeks. |
| Gimmy: 四個星期 (sei3 go3 sing1 kei4). |
| David: Four weeks. |
| Gimmy: 四個星期 (sei3 go3 sing1 kei4). |
| David: Notice, don't forget the measured word. |
| Gimmy: 個 (go3). |
| David: Four weeks. |
| Gimmy: 四個星期 (Sei3 go3 sing1 kei4). |
| David: The same pattern works with hours. For instance, one hour is… |
| Gimmy: 一個鐘 (jat1 go3 zung1). |
| David: Two hours. |
| Gimmy: 兩個鐘 (loeng5 go3 zung1). |
| David: Three hours. |
| Gimmy: 三個鐘 (saam1 go3 zung1). So when you go to movie theatre, you might ask 套戲幾長呀？(tou3 hei3 gei2 coeng4 aa3?) |
| David: How long is the film? |
| Gimmy: 套戲幾長呀？(tou3 hei3 gei2 coeng4 aa3?) |
| David: And you can expect an answer like this. |
| Gimmy: 兩個鐘 (loeng5 go3 zung1). |
| David: Two hours. |
| Gimmy: 兩個鐘 (loeng5 go3 zung1). |
| David: Now, before we leave you, we want to take a look at this last character in the dialogue because they said "three months." |
| Gimmy: 三個月 (saam1 go3 jyut6). |
| David: And then added... |
| Gimmy: 度 (dou2). |
| David: What does this last sound do? |
| Gimmy: It means "about." |
| David: Or “more or less.” |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: So they answered "about three months." |
| Gimmy: Right. 三個月度 (saam1 go3 jyut6 dou2). |
| David: About two weeks. |
| Gimmy: 兩個星期度 (loeng5 go3 sing1 kei4 dou2). |
| David: About an hour. |
| Gimmy: 一個鐘度 (jat1 go3 zung1 dou2). |
| David: And you can do this to any length of time. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: And one tip before we go, pay attention to this sound. |
| Gimmy: 度 (dou2). 度 (dou2). Usually this word is pronounced as 度 (dou2) |
| David: Right. |
| Gimmy: But then when we want to mention it's about certain time. |
| David: Yeah, or length of time. |
| Gimmy: Yeah. We say 度 (dou2) |
| David: So the sound changes in this case. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: One more time. It’s... |
| Gimmy: 度 (dou2) |
| David: Not... |
| Gimmy: 度 (dou2). |
| David: And that brings us to the end of our lesson for today. Before we leave you, Gimmy, something you're dying to say. |
Outro |
| Gimmy: If you're having trouble understanding the dialogues… |
| David: Come to our premium learning center and check out our line-by-line recordings. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: You can listen to each line again and again until your brain picks it up. It makes learning Cantonese a lot easier. |
| Gimmy: True. |
| David: That said, we're done for 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: 下次見 (haa6 ci3 gin3). |
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