Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Eric: Hello and welcome to the Lower Beginner series at CantoneseClass101.com. This is season 1, lesson 10, A Scary Situation in Hong Kong. I’m Eric.
Teddy: 哈囉!(haa1 lo3!) And I’m Teddy.
Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to command others not to do something.
Teddy: This conversation takes place in a dark alley...
Eric: ...between a robber and a victim.
Teddy: And the speakers will be using casual Cantonese.
Eric: Let’s listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
賊 : 咪郁,打劫!(CAAK2: mai5 juk1, daa2 gip3!)
受害人: 救命呀! (SAU6 HOI6 JAN4: gau3 meng6 aa3!)
賊 : 咪嘈! (CAAK2: mai5 cou4!)
Eric: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly.
賊 : 咪郁,打劫!(CAAK2: mai5 juk1, daa2 gip3!)
受害人: 救命呀! (SAU6 HOI6 JAN4: gau3 meng6 aa3!)
賊 : 咪嘈! (CAAK2: mai5 cou4!)
Eric: Now let’s hear it with the English translation.
賊 : 咪郁,打劫!(CAAK2: mai5 juk1, daa2 gip3!)
Eric: Don't move, it's a robbery!
受害人: 救命呀! (SAU6 HOI6 JAN4: gau3 meng6 aa3!)
Eric: Help!
賊 : 咪嘈! (CAAK2: mai5 cou4!)
Eric: Don't make any noise!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Eric: Have you ever been robbed before?
Teddy: No, but I have been pick-pocketed.
Eric: Where did it happen?
Teddy: I was at the book expo, and I didn’t notice until I left.
Eric: So is this quite common in Hong Kong?
Teddy: It’s always very busy on the street, and sometimes people stand very close to each other in the expo or lining up to get on a bus.
Eric: So you should be careful with your wallet when you’re out. So did you report it to the police?
Teddy: No I didn’t, because I didn’t lose my Hong Kong ID card, but I lost my credit cards.
Eric: That's too bad. Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
The first word we shall see is:
咪 (mai5) [natural native speed]
don't
咪 (mai5) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
咪 (mai5) [natural native speed]
Next:
郁 (juk1) [natural native speed]
to move
郁 (juk1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
郁 (juk1) [natural native speed]
Next:
打劫 (daa2 gip3) [natural native speed]
robbery, to rob
打劫 (daa2 gip3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
打劫 (daa2 gip3) [natural native speed]
Next:
救命 (gau3 meng6) [natural native speed]
help
救命 (gau3 meng6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
救命 (gau3 meng6) [natural native speed]
Next:
嘈 (cou4) [natural native speed]
noisy, to make noise
嘈 (cou4) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
嘈 (cou4) [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Eric: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. What are we starting with?
Teddy: 嘈 (cou4)
Eric: What can you tell us about this?
Teddy: 嘈 (cou4) means “noisy” as an adjective, or “to make noise” as a verb.
Eric: Can you give us an example of each?
Teddy: Sure! 好嘈 (hou2 cou4) meaning “very noisy” is a common phrase, in which 嘈 (cou4) is an adjective. While 咪嘈 (mai5 cou4), which we heard in the dialog, uses its verb form, and means “don’t make any noise”, or “shut up”.
Eric: I see. What’s our next key phrase?
Teddy: This one is an important phrase everyone should learn. It will save your life, it’s 救命! (gau3 meng6!)
Eric: It means “HELP!” But what does each word means?
Teddy: 救 (gau3) means “to save” and 命 (meng6) means “life”. 救命(gau3 meng6) together means “to save life”. When you call 救命呀 (gau3 meng6 aa3) out loud, people will know that you are in danger or you need help.
Eric: Oh, I have to remember this. It’s a very useful phrase. Listeners, repeat after Teddy.
Teddy: 救命 (gau3 meng6) [pause]
Eric: “Help!” Okay, now onto the grammar.

Lesson focus

Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to say “don’t”.
Teddy: It’s very easy, just put 咪 (mai5) in front of the verb.
Eric: Can you give some examples using the verbs we've learned before?
Teddy: Sure. We’ve learned 食 (sik6) “to eat”, so “don’t eat” in Cantonese is 咪食 (mai5 sik6). I always hear people saying 咪食咁多(mai5 sik6 gam3 do1), do you know what it means?
Eric: Let me guess, “don’t eat so much”, is that right?
Teddy: Bingo! You’re very smart!
Eric: So let’s try with some other verbs now. How do we say “don’t play”?
Teddy: 玩 (waan2) is “to play”, so “don’t play” is 咪玩 (mai5 waan2).
Eric: How about “don’t go”?
Teddy: 走 (zau2) means “to go”, or “to run”, so 咪走 (mai5 zau2) means “don’t go”, or when the police are chasing a criminal, they say 咪走 (mai5 zau2) as in “Freeze!”
Eric: I see, so in this case it literally means “don’t run!”
Teddy: Right, in our dialogue, the robber gave commands to the victim twice.
Eric: “Don’t move”, and “Don’t make any noise!”
Teddy: which are 咪郁 (mai5 juk1) and 咪嘈 (mai5 cou4) respectively.
Eric: Do these two phrases only apply to this case? As in, are they mostly used by criminals?
Teddy: Not at all! We use these phrases normally, for instance when you’re trying to take a photo and you say 咪郁 (mai5 juk1) to ask the person not to move so you can take a good photo.
Eric: Or when students are too noisy in a classroom…
Teddy: Then you can say 咪嘈 (mai5 cou4) to ask them to keep quiet.
Eric: Okay, I get it now! Can you say the phrases again? Listeners, repeat after Teddy.
Teddy: 咪郁! (mai5 juk1!) [pause]
Eric: “Don’t move!”
Teddy: 咪嘈! (mai5 cou4!) [pause]
Eric: “Don’t make any noise!”, or “Shut up!”

Outro

Eric: Okay listeners, that’s all for this lesson. Remember to check the lesson notes for more details and sample sentences! We’ll see you next time, bye!
Teddy: 拜拜! (baai1 baai3 !)

Grammar

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