Learn how to ask permission and a good rule of thumb when asking permission, to be polite
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Intro |
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| David: Welcome to CantoneseClass101.com. I’m David. |
| Gimmy: 大家好, 我係 Gimmy。(daai6 gaa1 hou2, ngo5 hai6 Gimmy.) |
| David: And Gimmy, we’re here today with Beginner Season 1, Lesson 7. |
| Gimmy: Hot in Hong Kong. |
| David: Right, and we’re not talking about the weather. |
| Gimmy: No, it’s about people. |
| David: Right. It’s about all of the beautiful men and women you’re going to run into in Hong Kong. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: And to ask for their phone number. |
| Gimmy: Wow. |
| David: So we’ve got a dialogue that takes place on the streets of Hong Kong. This is casual Cantonese, as always. Let’s listen. |
Lesson conversation |
| 靚女，你好索！(leng3 neoi5, nei5 hou2 sok3!) |
| 多謝。(do1 ze6.) |
| 可唔可以俾你電話號碼我？(ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5?) |
| 唔可以。(m4 ho2 ji5.) |
| David: Once again, a bit slower. |
| 靚女，你好索！(leng3 neoi5, nei5 hou2 sok3!) |
| 多謝。(do1 ze6.) |
| 可唔可以俾你電話號碼我？(ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5?) |
| 唔可以。(m4 ho2 ji5.) |
| David: And now, with the English translation. |
| 靚女，你好索！(leng3 neoi5, nei5 hou2 sok3!) |
| A: Pretty girl. You are so hot! |
| 多謝。(do1 ze6.) |
| B: Thank you. |
| 可唔可以俾你電話號碼我？(ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5?) |
| A: Can you give me your number? |
| 唔可以。(m4 ho2 ji5.) |
| B: No, I can't. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: So Gimmy, how rude is this in Hong Kong. |
| Gimmy: I don’t think this is rude, but then if you’re a girl and if you don’t like a guy… |
| David: Yeah. |
| Gimmy: That’s okay. |
| David: So will strangers compliment other people on the streets like this? |
| Gimmy: They would. |
| David: Okay. So that’s a bit off in North America, but in Hong Kong, it happens. |
| Gimmy: It happens sometimes. |
| David: So if you’re a woman, don’t take offence of it. Anyway, our vocab today is about asking for a telephone number. Let’s get to it. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gimmy: 靚女 (leng3 neoi5) [natural native speed] |
| David: Pretty girl |
| Gimmy: 靚女 (leng3 neoi5) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 靚女 (leng3 neoi5) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 索 (sok3) [natural native speed] |
| David: Hot. |
| Gimmy: 索 (sok3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 索 (sok3) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 多謝 (do1 ze6) [natural native speed] |
| David: Thanks |
| Gimmy: 多謝 (do1 ze6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 多謝 (do1 ze6) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 可以 (ho2 ji5) [natural native speed] |
| David: Can. |
| Gimmy: 唔可以 (m4 ho2 ji5) [natural native speed] |
| David: Can't |
| Gimmy: 唔可以 (m4 ho2 ji5) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 唔可以 (m4 ho2 ji5) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 可以 (ho2 ji5) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 可以 (ho2 ji5) [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: 電話 (din6 waa2) [natural native speed] |
| David: Telephone |
| Gimmy: 電話 (din6 waa2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 電話 (din6 waa2) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 號碼 (hou6 maa5) [natural native speed] |
| David: Number |
| Gimmy: 號碼 (hou6 maa5) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 號碼 (hou6 maa5) [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| David: Let’s take a closer look at some of these words and phrases. The first one to look at, obviously, is how we say “pretty girl”. |
| Gimmy: 靚女. (leng3 neoi5.) |
| David: Pretty girl. |
| Gimmy: 靚女. (leng3 neoi5.) |
| David: And for all you women out there, Gimmy, what do you call a hot guy? |
| Gimmy: A hot guy? That’s easy, 靚仔. (leng3 zai2.) |
| David: Right, a hot guy. |
| Gimmy: Yes. So 靚 (leng3) is the adjective for pretty or beautiful. |
| David: Right. Yeah. |
| Gimmy: So we just add 女 (neoi5) in the back. |
| David: Right. So, pretty girl. |
| Gimmy: 靚女. (leng3 neoi5.) |
| David: Pretty guy. |
| Gimmy: 靚仔. (leng3 zai2.) |
| David: And we have this piece of slang following it. |
| Gimmy: 索. (sok3.) |
| David: Hot. |
| Gimmy: 索. (sok3.) |
| David: Right. So this is slang in Hong Kong. |
| Gimmy: It is very Cantonese slang that we use quite often. |
| David: Right. And it means “attractive” or “beautiful”…. |
| Gimmy: Hot. |
| David: …or “sexy”. It’s not rude. |
| Gimmy: No, it’s not. It’s actually very direct. |
| David: Right. So if you call someone… |
| Gimmy: 索. (sok3.) |
| David: …they’re going to take it as a compliment. |
| Gimmy: For sure. |
| David: Right. For instance, “wow, you’re so hot!” |
| Gimmy: 嘩！你好索呀！(waa1! nei5 hou2 sok3 aa3!) |
| David: Or, “you look really good today.” |
| Gimmy: 你今日好索喎. (nei5 gam1 jat6 hou2 sok3 wo3.) |
| David: Right. Gimmy, there are two other really useful words talked about here. |
| Gimmy: Right. There are two very interesting words here. |
| David: Right. The first is telephone. |
| Gimmy: 電話.(din6 waa2) |
| David: Telephone. |
| Gimmy: 電話. (din6 waa2) |
| David: So this is a general word that includes landlines and mobile phones. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: Right. And the second word, of course, is number. |
| Gimmy: 號碼. (hou6 maa5.) |
| David: Number. |
| Gimmy: 號碼. (hou6 maa5.) |
| David: So we put those together and we have “telephone number”. |
| Gimmy: 電話號碼. (din6 waa2 hou6 maa5) |
| David: So Gimmy, let’s say we meet someone who we think is really nice and we want to ask them for their telephone number. |
| Gimmy: Well, David, in this case, there’s a very useful line in our dialogue, 可唔可以俾你電話號碼我？(ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5?) |
| David: Which is, “can you give me your telephone number?” |
| Gimmy:可唔可以俾你電話號碼我？ (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5?) |
| David: Let’s make this a bit less polite by taking out the word for “can”. |
| Gimmy: 俾你電話號碼我. (bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5.) |
| David: “Give me your telephone number.” And what’s that sound at the end of the sentence? |
| Gimmy: 我(ngo5), that’s “me”. |
| David: Right. So that comes at the end of the sentence. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: “Give your telephone number me”. |
| Gimmy: 俾你電話號碼我. (bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5.) |
| David: And with that, let’s move on to the grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
| David: It’s grammar time! |
| Gimmy: Okay. Today we’re going to learn how to ask permission. |
| David: Right, to do a lot of things. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: It might be giving me your telephone number or helping me with work. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: Let’s get started. Gimmy, we hear someone ask for a permission in this line in our dialogue. |
| Gimmy: 可唔可以俾你電話號碼我？ (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5?) |
| David: “Can you give your telephone number to me?” |
| Gimmy: 可唔可以俾你電話號碼我？ (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 waa2 hou6 maa5 ngo5?) |
| David: The key part of this question is that first bit… |
| Gimmy: 可唔可以. (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5.) |
| David: Can or cannot. |
| Gimmy: 可唔可以. (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5.) |
| David: Can you or can’t you? |
| Gimmy: 可以定唔可以? (ho2 ji5 ding6 m4 ho2 ji5 ?) |
| David: “Can or cannot.” Right. So we know how to use this to ask for someone’s telephone number. What about some other situations? |
| Gimmy: For instance, you just want to ask someone for help, 可唔可以幫我忙？ (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bong1 ngo5 mong4?) |
| David: Can or cannot help me. |
| Gimmy: 可唔可以幫我忙？ (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bong1 ngo5 mong4?) |
| David: “Can you help me out?” Or let’s say something comes up and you need to spend some time off work. |
| Gimmy: 可唔可以請假？ (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 ceng2 gaa3?) |
| David: Can or cannot take time off. |
| Gimmy: 可唔可以請假？ (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 ceng2 gaa3?) |
| David: Right. Or returning to the subject in our dialogue, maybe you don’t want a phone number but you want an email address. So you could say, “Can you give me your email address?” |
| Gimmy: 可唔可以俾你電郵地址我？ (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 jau4 dei6 zi2 ngo5? ) |
| David: “Can you give me your email address?” |
| Gimmy: 可唔可以俾你電郵地址我？( ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bei2 nei5 din6 jau4 dei6 zi2 ngo5?) |
| David: And even if you don’t know how to ask the rest of the question, you can always just come out with can or cannot. |
| Gimmy: Yes, that’s very useful, 可唔可以. (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5.) |
| David: And the context will usually make it clear what you want. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: So to review, to ask permission or to ask someone to do something, start your sentence with… |
| Gimmy: 可唔可以. (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5.) |
| David: And that brings us to the end of our podcast for today. |
Outro |
| Gimmy: Before we go, David, I want to remind people to create a free account. |
| David: Right. It only takes seven seconds to get your free lifetime account at CantoneseClass101.com. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: For now though, we are out of time. 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. (do1 ze6 sau1 teng1.) |
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