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 with Beginner Season 1, Lesson 8.
Gimmy: Cantonese Co-workers.
David: Right. So our dialogue today takes place in an office.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: And it involves two co-workers.
Gimmy: Uh-hmm.
David: We hope that if you live and work in Hong Kong, you don’t have co-workers like this.
Gimmy: Yeah, they’re pretty mean.
David: Yeah. Okay. And with that, let’s get to the dialogue.

Lesson conversation

你忙唔忙呀? (nei5 mong4 m4 mong4 aa3?)
麻麻哋啦。 (maa4 maa2 dei2 laa1.)
幫我查啲資料吖? (bong1 ngo5 caa4 di1 zi1 liu2 aa1?)
查咩呀?(caa4 me1 aa3?)
等陣話你知。(dang2 zan6 waa6 nei5 zi1.)
咁我得閒先查喇。(gam2 ngo5 dak1 haan4 sin1 caa4 laa3.)
David: Once again, a bit slower.
你忙唔忙呀? (nei5 mong4 m4 mong4 aa3?)
麻麻哋啦。 (maa4 maa2 dei2 laa1.)
幫我查啲資料吖? (bong1 ngo5 caa4 di1 zi1 liu2 aa1?)
查咩呀?(caa4 me1 aa3?)
等陣話你知。(dang2 zan6 waa6 nei5 zi1.)
咁我得閒先查喇。(gam2 ngo5 dak1 haan4 sin1 caa4 laa3.)
David: And now, with the English translation.
你忙唔忙呀? (nei5 mong4 m4 mong4 aa3?)
A: Are you busy?
麻麻哋啦。 (maa4 maa2 dei2 laa1.)
B: A little.
幫我查啲資料吖? (bong1 ngo5 caa4 di1 zi1 liu2 aa1?)
A: Can you help me find some info?
查咩呀?(caa4 me1 aa3?)
B: Find what?
等陣話你知。(dang2 zan6 waa6 nei5 zi1.)
A: I'll tell you later.
咁我得閒先查喇。(gam2 ngo5 dak1 haan4 sin1 caa4 laa3.)
B: Then I'll search when I'm free.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
David: So a lot of our words today are really useful in office settings.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: Right. So if you’re working in Hong Kong or you’re working with people who speak Cantonese, you’re going to be using this language.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: Let’s get to our vocab section.
VOCAB LIST
Gimmy: 忙 (mong4) [natural native speed]
David: Busy.
Gimmy: 忙 (mong4) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 忙 (mong4) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 得閒 (dak1 haan4) [natural native speed]
David: To be free.
Gimmy: 得閒 (dak1 haan4) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 得閒 (dak1 haan4) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 麻麻哋 (maa4 maa2 dei2) [natural native speed]
David: A little; sort of.
Gimmy: 麻麻哋 (maa4 maa2 dei2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 麻麻哋 (maa4 maa2 dei2) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 幫 (bong1) [natural native speed]
David: To help.
Gimmy: 幫 (bong1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 幫 (bong1) [natural native speed]
Gimmy: 資料 (zi1 liu2) [natural native speed]
David: Information, material.
Gimmy: 資料 (zi1 liu2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 資料 (zi1 liu2) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 查 (caa4) [natural native speed]
David: To find, to search.
Gimmy: 查 (caa4) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 查 (caa4) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 咩 (me1) [natural native speed]
David: What.
Gimmy: 咩 (me1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 咩 (me1) [natural native speed].
Gimmy: 等陣 (dang2 zan6) [natural native speed]
David: Later.
Gimmy: 等陣 (dang2 zan6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 等陣 (dang2 zan6) [natural native speed].
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
David: Let’s take a closer look at some of these words and phrases.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: The first word we want to highlight is in the second line.
Gimmy: 麻麻哋啦. (maa4 maa4 dei2 laa1.)
David: Right. And it’s this word.
Gimmy: 麻麻哋. (maa4 maa4 dei2.)
David: So Gimmy, this is a bit slangish, it’s very casual.
Gimmy: Yes. It’s basically telling people, “yes”, “a little”, “yeah”, “not sure”.
David: “Yeah”, “sort of”…
Gimmy: Yes.
David: “No.” “Are you free?” “Ummm….”
Gimmy: So it is very useful. Think about it…
David: Yeah.
Gimmy: …when you’re asked to do something….
David: Right, right.
Gimmy: …or when you’re asked to go out.
David: Right. So Gimmy, this is really casual.
Gimmy: Yes. It’s something to tell people, “yes”, “sort of”, “not too sure”.
David: Yeah. You don’t really know what they’re asking so you don’t want to commit.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: Right. Like “Gimmy, can you help me out?”
Gimmy: 麻麻哋啦. (maa4 maa4 dei2 laa1.)
David: “Well, you know…sort of.” Tell me more.
Gimmy: Right.
David: So one more time.
Gimmy: 麻麻哋. (maa4 maa4 dei2.)
David: A really useful casual phrase.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: Right. The next word we want to highlight, we translated in the dialogue as “to find”.
Gimmy: 查. (caa4.)
David: We heard it in this sentence.
Gimmy: 幫我查啲資料吖? (bong1 ngo5 caa4 di1 zi1 liu2 aa1?)
David: “Can you help me find some information (or find some resources)?”
Gimmy: Yes. 幫我查啲資料吖?(bong1 ngo5 caa4 di1 zi1 liu2 aa1?)
David: Right. But it’s not necessarily “find”, it’s more “to search for”.
Gimmy: Right.
David: Right. So the English translation and what the Cantonese really means is a bit different.
Gimmy: A little bit.
David: Yeah. So this word really means “to search.”
Gimmy: Right, David. Say, for example, you go on Google and you want to find some information.
David: Right. You would be….
Gimmy: 查資料. (caa4 zi1 liu2.)
David: Searching for materials.
Gimmy: 查資料. (caa4 zi1 liu2.)
David: Or let’s say you’re looking through your office files for a document. That would also be…
Gimmy: 查資料. (caa4 zi1 liu2.)
David: Right. So it’s the act of looking for something as opposed to the act of finding it.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: Now, the last word we want to highlight is…
Gimmy: 等陣. (dang2 zan6.)
David: We hear this in this line in the dialogue.
Gimmy: 等陣話你知. (dang2 zan6 waa6 nei5 zi1.)
David: I’ll tell you in a bit.
Gimmy: 等陣話你知. (dang2 zan6 waa6 nei5 zi1 .)
David: And this word…
Gimmy: 等陣. (dang2 zan6 .)
David: …it means “in a while” or “in a little bit.”
Gimmy: Yes. So for instance, you’re asked to do something….
David: Right.
Gimmy: …but you don’t want to do it right away.
David: Right, or you don’t want to do it at all but you want to be polite.
Gimmy: Yes. We can say 等陣先. (dang2 zan6 sin1.)
David: Which means, “wait a bit and I’ll do it then.”
Gimmy: Yes, 等陣先. (dang2 zan6 sin1.)
David: But the key word there is…
Gimmy: 等陣. (dang2 zan6.)
David: And this is an adverb so you put it in front of verbs.
Gimmy: Right.
David: Gimmy, can we have one more example?
Gimmy: Yeah. “Wait a bit, I’m busy.”
David: Right, like your partner asked you to come over for dinner with him and you want to go but you need another 20 minutes to finish…
Gimmy: Yeah.
David: …you can say…
Gimmy: 等陣先去食飯 (dang2 zan6 sin1 heoi3 sik6 faan6)
David: “Wait a minute, and then we’ll go eat.”
Gimmy: 等陣先去食飯 (dang2 zan6 sin1 heoi3 sik6 faan6)
David: “Wait a bit and we’ll eat.” So all of the stuff is incredibly useful.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: Our grammar point is also incredibly useful and its review.
Gimmy: Right.

Lesson focus

Gimmy: Okay, David, our grammar point today is asking question with adjectives.
David: Right. We’ve run into this in previous lessons and we see it again in the first line in our dialogue.
Gimmy: 你忙唔忙呀?(nei5 mong4 m4 mong4 aa3?)
David: “Are you busy?”
Gimmy: 你忙唔忙呀?(nei5 mong4 m4 mong4 aa3?)
David: “Are you buys?”
Gimmy: The key here is 忙唔忙. (mong4 m4 mong4.)
David: Busy, not busy.
Gimmy: 忙唔忙. (mong4 m4 mong4.)
David: Right. And the answer is usually, of course, busy…
Gimmy: 忙. (mong4.)
David: …or if you’re not busy, you can say…
Gimmy: 唔忙. (m4 mong4.)
David: Although in our dialogue, of course, we get the third answer.
Gimmy: 麻麻哋啦. (maa4 maa4 dei2 laa1.)
David: Sort of.
Gimmy: Yes.
David: Right. So you already know how to do this with basic adjectives. For instance…
Gimmy: For instance, you’re learning Chinese and someone asked you, “Is Chinese difficult?” 中文難唔難?(zung1 man2 naan4 m4 naan4?)
David: “Is Chinese difficult?”
Gimmy: 中文難唔難? (zung1 man2 naan4 m4 naan4?)
David: Right. You might also be asked if you like your work or if you find work frustrating and bothersome.
Gimmy: 工作煩唔煩? (gung1 zok3 faan4 m4 faan4?)
David: “Is work bothering you?”
Gimmy: 工作煩唔煩? (gung1 zok3 faan4 m4 faan4?)
David: Now here’s a trick. In all of the examples we’ve given you so far, we’ve used single character adjectives.
Gimmy: Right.
David: For instance, busy.
Gimmy: 忙. (mong4.)
David: Bothersome.
Gimmy: 煩. (faan4.)
David: Difficult.
Gimmy: 難. (naan4.)
David: What if we have a two character adjective like “fresh”?
Gimmy: 新鮮(san1 sin1), then we do this 新唔新鮮. (san1 m4 san1 sin1.)
David: Fresh or not fresh.
Gimmy: 新唔新鮮. (san1 m4 san1 sin1.)
David: So we drop the second character the first time we say the adjective.
Gimmy: Right.
David: Right. It makes it a bit more compact.
Gimmy: Right. 新唔新鮮. (san1 m4 san1 sin1.)
David: Right. Like, “Is the fish fresh or not?”
Gimmy: 魚新唔新鮮? (jyu5 san1 m4 san1 sin1?)
David: As always, we want to remind you our grammar point, all of our vocab is contained in our premium lesson PDF.
Gimmy: You can find it on our site at CantoneseClass101.com.

Outro

David: Right. It’s in the Premium Member learning center. If you have any questions, though then go beyond the PDF. You’re always welcome to email u s.
Gimmy: Right. Our address is…
David: Contact us at CantoneseClass101.com. For now though, we’re done with today’s lesson. 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.)

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