Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
David: Welcome to CantoneseClass101.com. I’m David.
Gimmy: 我係Gimmy, 大家好。 (ngo5 hai6 Gimmy, daai6 gaa1 hou2.)
David: And we’re here with Beginner Season 1, Lesson 6…
Gimmy: Taking photos in Hong Kong.
David: Right. Or having people taking photos of you. So in this lesson, we’re going to make sure that you look good.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: Right.
Gimmy: You have to learn how to smile.
David: Yes. We’re going to teach you the Cantonese to make sure you’re as pretty or handsome as you can be when someone snaps that shot.
Gimmy: Yes, all about pretty.
David: We’ve got a dialogue. It’s a bunch of people taking a photo. Let’s take the lesson.

Lesson conversation

咪郁!(mai5 juk1!)
我都冇郁。(ngo5 dou1 mou5 juk1.)
笑下啦。(siu3 haa5 laa1.)
得唔得? (dak1 m4 dak1?)
一,二,三⋯⋯ (jat1 ji6 saam1…...)
俾我睇下。(bei2 ngo5 tai2 haa5.)
David: Once again, a bit slower.
咪郁!(mai5 juk1!)
我都冇郁。(ngo5 dou1 mou5 juk1.)
笑下啦。(siu3 haa5 laa1.)
得唔得? (dak1 m4 dak1?)
一,二,三⋯⋯ (jat1 ji6 saam1…...)
俾我睇下。(bei2 ngo5 tai2 haa5.)
David: And now, with the English translation.
咪郁!(mai5 juk1!)
A: Don't move!
我都冇郁。(ngo5 dou1 mou5 juk1.)
B: I didn't move.
笑下啦。(siu3 haa5 laa1.)
A: Smile a bit!
得唔得? (dak1 m4 dak1?)
B: Is this okay?
一,二,三⋯⋯ (jat1 ji6 saam1…...)
A: One, two, three...
俾我睇下。(bei2 ngo5 tai2 haa5.)
B: Let me take a look.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
David: So the key to looking good, Gimmy?
Gimmy: To smile!
David: Right, unless you don’t look good when you smile because there’s…
Gimmy: Who doesn’t?
David: …because there’s the exception approves of a rule.
Gimmy: Okay.
David: So if you don’t look good when you smile, don’t smile. Everyone else…
Gimmy: Smile.
David: Our vocab today, it’s about photography, smiling, looking good. Let’s get to it.
VOCAB LIST
Gimmy: 咪 (mai5) [natural native speed]
David: Don't.
Gimmy: 咪 (mai5) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 咪 (mai5) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 得唔得 (dak1 m4 dak1) [natural native speed]
David: Okay or not.
Gimmy: 得唔得 (dak1 m4 dak1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 得唔得 (dak1 m4 dak1) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 俾 (bei2) [natural native speed]
David: To give.
Gimmy: 俾 (bei2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 俾 (bei2) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 睇 (tai2) [natural native speed]
David: To watch.
Gimmy: 睇 (tai2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 睇 (tai2) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 見 (gin3) [natural native speed].
David: To see.
Gimmy: 見 (gin3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 見 (gin3) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 郁 (juk1) [natural native speed]
David: To move.
Gimmy: 郁 (juk1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 郁 (juk1) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 笑 (siu3) [natural native speed]
David: To smile.
Gimmy: 笑 (siu3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 笑 (siu3) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 都 (dou1) [natural native speed]
David: Also.
Gimmy: 都 (dou1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 都 (dou1) [natural native speed].
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
David: Let's take a closer look at some of these words and phrases.
Gimmy: The first one is 咪. (mai5.)
David: And you translated this as “don’t.”
Gimmy: Yes. 咪. (mai5.)
David: “Don’t.”
Gimmy: 咪郁!(mai5 juk1!)
David: “Don’t move.” Now Gimmy, I know what everyone’s thinking, because I’m thinking the same thing. A few lessons ago, we taught everyone a different way to say “don’t move.”
Gimmy: Yes, 唔好郁 (m4 hou2 juk1).
David: Don’t move.
Gimmy: 唔好郁. (m4 hou2 juk1.)
David: Right. So we have two ways of saying the same thing.
Gimmy: We do.
David: The first is…
Gimmy: 咪. (mai5.)
David: The second is….
Gimmy: 唔好. (m4 hou2.)
David: And you can use either of them.
Gimmy: Yes, they’re interchangeable.
David: Right. So if the police say…
Gimmy: 咪郁!(mai5 juk1!)
David: Do not stop because you’re waiting for…
Gimmy: 唔好郁. (m4 hou2 juk1.)
David: Right. These two words are totally interchangeable.
Gimmy: Yes, they are.
David: For a couple of word samples, you might hear someone say…
Gimmy: 咪嘈!(mai1 cou4!)
David: “Don’t make noise.”
Gimmy: That’s when I’m sleeping, 咪嘈. (mai1 cou4.)
David: Right. So literally, no no ruckus.
Gimmy: Right. And David, I got another one. When I’m changing and somebody’s around, I have to say 咪睇. (mai1 tai2.)
David: “Don’t look.”
Gimmy: 咪睇. (mai1 tai2.)
David: Right. And in both of these cases, you can go with the longer form we taught you before.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: So you could also say…
Gimmy: 唔好嘈. (m4 hou2 cou4.)
David: “Don’t make so much noise” or…
Gimmy: 唔好睇. (m4 hou2 tai2.)
David: “Don’t look.” This is just it’s a bit shorter, it’s a bit faster. Okay. The second word we want to highlight today is…
Gimmy: 睇. (tai2.)
David: And this means “to look.”
Gimmy: 睇. (tai2.)
David: And the reason we want to highlight this is because there’s another verb that’s really close.
Gimmy: Yes, 見. (gin3.)
David: To see.
Gimmy: 見. (gin3.)While they’re close, one is more casual.
David: Right. And that’s?
Gimmy: 睇 (tai2), It’s a little more casual than 見 (gin3).
David: Right. So you’re going to hear it more often. And you do. You hear it more often in our dialogues, too.
Gimmy: Right. In the dialogue we have, 俾我睇下啦 (bei2 ngo5 tai2 haa5 laa1.)
David: “Let me take a look.”
Gimmy: 俾我睇下啦. (bei2 ngo5 tai2 haa5 laa1.)
David: “Let me take a look.” And there’s something else that’s a bit of a mystery here, it’s that verb compliment following the verb.
Gimmy: 下. (haa5.)
David: To learn what this is doing, we’re going to have to go to the grammar section.
Gimmy: Okay.

Lesson focus

David: It’s grammar time! In our grammar point for today, we want to talk about doing things a bit.
Gimmy: Right.
David: In our dialogue, we heard this in two places.
Gimmy: 笑下啦. (siu3 haa5 laa1.)
David: “Smile a bit.”
Gimmy: 笑下啦. (siu3 haa5 laa1.)
David: “Smile a bit.” We also heard it…
Gimmy: 睇下啦. (tai2 haa5 laa1.)
David: “Look a bit.”
Gimmy: 睇下啦. (tai2 haa5 laa1.)
David: And that was in the line “let me take a look.”
Gimmy: Right, 俾我睇下啦. (bei2 ngo5 tai2 haa5 laa1.)
David: Right. So really, we should translate that as “let me take a look for a little bit of time.”
Gimmy: Yes.
David: So what we’ve got is we’ve got a one character verb….
Gimmy: ….plus 下 (haa5).
David: So smile.
Gimmy: 笑下. (siu3 haa5.)
David: Or look.
Gimmy: 睇下. (tai2 haa5.)
David: And we can do this with any verb.
Gimmy: Right. For example, let’s take a look at this verb, 試下. (si3 haa5.)
David: The verb there is “to try.”
Gimmy: 試 (si3)
David: “Try a little bit.”
Gimmy: 試下. (si3 haa5.)
David: And you’re going to hear this when you’re eating or when you’re trying on clothing.
Gimmy: You do.
David: For instance, someone can put food on your plate and say, “Try it, it tastes good.”
Gimmy: 試下, 好味㗎. (si3 haa5, hou2 mei6 gaa3.)
David: “Try it, it tastes good.”
Gimmy: 試下, 好味㗎. (si3 haa5, hou2 mei6 gaa3.)
David: Or maybe you’re trying on clothes with a friend and they say, “Try this, you’ll like it.”
Gimmy: 試下呢個,你會鍾意㗎. (si3 haa5 ni1 go3, nei5 wui5 zung1 ji3 gaa3.)
David: “Try this.”
Gimmy: 試下呢個. (si3 haa5 ni1 go3.)
David: “You’ll like it.”
Gimmy: 你會鍾意㗎. (nei5 wui5 zung1 ji3 gaa3.)
David: So this is a really easy grammar structure.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: Any verb that’s a single character, we can add….
Gimmy: 下. (haa5.)
David: And it means doing it for a little bit of time.
Gimmy: Right. David, let me give you another example. Let’s say you want to talk to someone.
David: Right. But imagine they’re busy, so you need to tell them, “Look, listen for a bit.”
Gimmy: 你聽下我講嘢. (nei5 teng1 haa5 ngo5 gong2 je5.)
David: “You listen for a bit.”
Gimmy: 你聽下我講嘢. (nei5 teng1 haa5 ngo5 gong2 je5.)
David: Right. Or literally, “Listen to me for a bit, I’ve got something to say.”
Gimmy: Yes.
David: So you’re going to run into this again and again and again. Just remember, single character verbs like…
Gimmy: 睇, 聽, 笑. (tai2 , teng1 , siu3.)
David: When they’re followed by this verb compliment…
Gimmy: 下. (haa5.)
David: It means you’re doing it for a short period of time.
Gimmy: Right.
David: And with that, we’re at the end of our lesson.

Outro

Gimmy: David, before we let people go, let’s remind them together free account.
David: Right. At CantoneseClass101.com, it takes all of seven seconds to sign-up at CantoneseClass101.com.
Gimmy: That’s the best deal!
David: Yeah. And with that, we’re done for today. I’m David.
Gimmy: I’m Gimmy.
David: Thanks a lot for listening and we’ll see you on the site.
Gimmy: 下次見. (haa6 ci3 gin3.)

Grammar

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