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Lesson Transcript

nei5 ho2, ngo5 hai6 Olivia. Hi everybody! I’m Olivia.
Welcome to CantoneseClass101.com’s “saam1 fan1 zung1 gwong2 dung1 waa2”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Cantonese.
In the last lesson, we learned how to use the Cantonese adjectives. In this lesson, we will learn how to combine them with nouns.
Before we start, you must first know the word ge3. [slowly] ge3
It is a very common possessive particle when placed after pronouns, but in this lesson, we’ll look at another usage of this word, as a linking word to connect adjectives to nouns.
To describe an object, first use the adjective that we learned last lesson, followed by ge3, then the noun.
For example:
hou2 hoi1 sum1 ge3 jat1 jat6
hou2 leng3 ge3 neoi5 zai2
hou2 pen4 ge3 saam1
Let’s break down the phrases.
ho2 hoi1 sum1 ge3 jat1 jat6
if you remember the phrase ngo5 hou2 hoi1 sum1 “I’m very happy” from last lesson, hou2 hoi1 sum1 means “happy” or “very happy”.
After that, add the linking word ge3, then the noun jat1 jat6 “a day”.
So altogether, hou2 hoi1 sum1 ge3 jat1 jat6 means “a very happy day”
[slowly] hou2 hoi1 sum1 ge3 jat1 jat6
What about the second phrase, can you figure out how it is constructed?
hou2 leng3 ge3 neoi5 zai2
hou2 leng3 “beautiful” or “very beautiful”, plus the linking word ge3, plus neoi5 zai2, the cantonese word for “girl”.
So altogether, hou2 leng3 ge3 neoi5 zai2 “a very beautiful girl”
[slowly] hou2 leng3 ge3 neoi5 zai2
Now, you should know what hou2 pen4 ge3 saam1 is.
hou2 pen4 is “cheap” or “very cheap” and
saam1 is “shirt” or “a top”
so hou2 pen4 ge3 saam1 is “very cheap shirt”
[slowly] hou2 pen4 ge3 saam1
Now it’s time for Olivia’s Insights.
When you’re shopping at the markets or boutiques in Hong Kong, it’s very common to hear the sellers trying to attract customers by saying:
hou2 san1 sin1 ge3 haa1 “very fresh shrimp”
hou2 tim4 ge3 caang2 “very sweet oranges”
hou2 dai2 ge3 bo1 haai4 “very low-priced sneakers”
In this lesson, we learned how to link adjectives to nouns. Next time we’ll learn a very useful and romantic verb, 鍾意.
Do you know what this Cantonese verb means?
I’ll be waiting for you with the answer in the next “saam1 fan1 zung1 gwong2 dung1 waa2”.
Haa6 ci3 gin3!

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