Learn how to use classifiers
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hello and welcome to the Lower Beginner series at CantoneseClass101.com. This is Season 1, Lesson 24, What Should You Take to a House Party in Hong Kong? I’m Eric. |
| Teddy: 哈囉！大家好! (haa1 lo3！daai6 gaa1 hou2 !) I’m Teddy! |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn more about classifiers, or measure words, in Cantonese. |
| Teddy: The conversation takes place at Wendy’s apartment. |
| Eric: It’s between two friends, Jane and Wendy. |
| Teddy: And as usual, the speakers will be speaking casual Cantonese. |
| Eric: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Wendy: 帶咩去PARTY好呀？(daai3 me1 heoi3 PARTY hou2 aa3?) |
| Jane: 兩打啤酒啦！(loeng5 daa1 be1 zau2 laa1!) |
| Wendy: 不如買個蛋糕吖？(bat1 jyu4 maai5 go3 daan6 gou1 aa1?) |
| Jane: 好呀，一磅夠啦。(hou2 aa3, jat1 bong6 gau3 laa1.) |
| Eric: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Wendy 帶咩去PARTY好呀？(daai3 me1 heoi3 PARTY hou2 aa3?) |
| Jane 兩打啤酒啦！(loeng5 daa1 be1 zau2 laa1!) |
| Wendy 不如買個蛋糕吖？(bat1 jyu4 maai5 go3 daan6 gou1 aa1?) |
| Jane 好呀，一磅夠啦。(hou2 aa3, jat1 bong6 gau3 laa1.) |
| Eric: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Wendy 帶咩去PARTY好呀？(daai3 me1 heoi3 PARTY hou2 aa3?) |
| Eric: What should we bring to the party? |
| Jane 兩打啤酒啦！(loeng5 daa1 be1 zau2 laa1!) |
| Eric: Two dozen beers! |
| Wendy 不如買個蛋糕吖？(bat1 jyu4 maai5 go3 daan6 gou1 aa1?) |
| Eric: Should we buy a cake? |
| Jane 好呀，一磅夠啦。(hou2 aa3, jat1 bong6 gau3 laa1.) |
| Eric: Yes, one pound is enough. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: What do you like to bring to your friends’ parties? |
| Teddy: I usually bring a bottle of wine. |
| Eric: What if the parties are for children? |
| Teddy: Well, then I won’t join! (laughs) No, in that case I might bring some chocolate. |
| Eric: If you’re having a party, what do you like your guests to bring? |
| Teddy: For that, I also like wine. 紅酒 (hung4 zau2) or 白酒 (baak6 zau2), "red wine" or "white wine." |
| Eric: But you don’t want everyone to bring the same thing every time. You’ll have too much wine then! What do people in Hong Kong usually bring to parties? |
| Teddy: Well, people in Hong Kong like 紅酒 (hung4 zau2), or "red wine," a lot. Alternatively, people might bring a basket of fruit or expensive seafood to house parties. |
| Eric: Great! I look forward to going to a party at your house. Okay, now let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| 帶 (daai3) [natural native speed] |
| to bring |
| 帶 (daai3) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 帶 (daai3) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 打 (daa1) [natural native speed] |
| a dozen of |
| 打 (daa1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 打 (daa1) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 啤酒 (be1 zau2) [natural native speed] |
| beer |
| 啤酒 (be1 zau2) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 啤酒 (be1 zau2) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 不如 (bat1 jyu4) [natural native speed] |
| how about |
| 不如 (bat1 jyu4) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 不如 (bat1 jyu4) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 買 (maai5) [natural native speed] |
| to buy |
| 買 (maai5) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 買 (maai5) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 蛋糕 (daan6 gou1) [natural native speed] |
| cake |
| 蛋糕 (daan6 gou1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 蛋糕 (daan6 gou1) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 磅 (bong6) [natural native speed] |
| pound (lb.) |
| 磅 (bong6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 磅 (bong6) [natural native speed] |
| And Last: |
| 夠 (gau3) [natural native speed] |
| enough |
| 夠 (gau3) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 夠 (gau3) [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: 夠. (gau3.) |
| Eric: What does this word mean? |
| Teddy: 夠 (gau3) means "enough" in Cantonese. In the dialogue, Jane said 一磅夠啦. (jat1 bong6 gau3 laa1.) |
| Eric: "One pound is enough." |
| Teddy: Right. Now can you guess what this phrase means? 夠唔夠? (gau3 m4 gau3 ?) |
| Eric: "Enough or not enough?" |
| Teddy: Correct! Okay, how about this one: 你夠唔夠錢? (nei5 gau3 m4 gau3 cin2 ?) |
| Eric: "Do you have enough money?" |
| Teddy: Excellent! How about 夠大? (gau3 daai6?) |
| Eric: "Big enough." |
| Teddy: 夠細. (gau3 sai3.) |
| Eric: "Small enough." So you can see that this word can be used with adjectives as well as with nouns. |
| Teddy: Right. 夠大, 夠細, 夠錢. (gau3 daai6 , gau3 sai3 , gau3 cin2 .) |
| Eric: Ok. What’s the other vocabulary word for this lesson? |
| Teddy: Remember how we talked about loanwords in our previous lessons? Here is another loanword for this lesson: 磅.(bong6.) |
| Eric: "Pound." |
| Teddy: Yes, 磅 (bong6) pound. 一磅 (jat1 bong6) is "one pound." |
| Eric: It’s a classifier. And we’ll talk more about classifiers in the grammar section later. |
| Teddy: 磅 (bong6) is a very useful classifier. We use 磅 when ordering cakes. 一磅蛋糕. (jat1 bong6 daan6 gou1.) |
| Eric: "One pound of cake." |
| Teddy: By the way, how much do you weigh? 你幾多磅? (nei5 gei2 do1 bong6 ?) |
| Eric: You’re asking me? (laughs) I’m sure our listeners are not interested. So let’s move onto the grammar! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn about...classifiers, which are also known as measure words. |
| Teddy: In previous lessons, we’ve talked about the most common classifiers - 個(go3), 件(gin6) and 條 (tiu4). |
| Eric: Yes. Let’s review them a little bit. |
| Teddy: Ok. 一個蘋果. (jat1 go3 ping4 gwo2.) |
| Eric: "One apple." |
| Teddy: 兩個人. (loeng5 go3 jan4.) |
| Eric: "Two people." |
| Teddy: 三件褸. (saam1 gin6 lau1.) |
| Eric: "Three jackets." |
| Teddy: 四件衫. (sei3 gin6 saam1.) |
| Eric: "Four pieces of clothing." |
| Teddy: 五條裙. (ng5 tiu4 kwan4.) |
| Eric: "Five dresses." |
| Teddy: Yes. 六條金魚. (luk6 tiu4 gam1 jyu2 .) |
| Eric: Hmm... "six fish" of some kind. |
| Teddy: Yes, very smart. 金魚 (gam1 jyu2) is "goldfish!" |
| Eric: "Six goldfish!" |
| Teddy: Great! In this lesson, we’ll talk about other classifiers that are also useful in everyday conversation. |
| Eric: Like pound and kilogram? |
| Teddy: Yes. Pound and kilogram are both used for body weight. "Pound" is 磅 (bong6), and "kilogram" is 公斤. (gung1 gan1.) |
| Eric: Do you weigh fruit and meat by the pound or by the kilogram? |
| Teddy: We use both. But in produce or fresh meat markets, we mostly use a Chinese measurement called a "catty," or 斤. (gan1.) As more countries use the metric system, we differentiate the "kilogram," or 公斤 (gung1 gan1), from the "catty," or 斤.(gan1.) |
| Eric: How do you say "one catty of pork?" |
| Teddy: 一斤豬肉. (jat1 gan1 zyu1 juk6.) |
| Eric: Ok, is there another useful classifier? How about "a dozen?" |
| Teddy: "A dozen" is 一打 (jat1 daa1). For example, 一打雞蛋. (jat1 daa1 gai1 daan2.) |
| Eric: "A dozen eggs." |
| Teddy: Right. 兩打啤酒. (loeng5 daa1 be1 zau2.) |
| Eric: "Two dozen beers." That’s very useful! But how about if I only want to order one beer? |
| Teddy: Then we say 一杯啤酒. (jat1 bui1 be1 zau2.) |
| Eric: Is that "one glass" or "one cup?" |
| Teddy: Yes, in Cantonese, we use the classifier 杯 (bui1) for both cups and glasses. |
| Eric: Good! How about "one bottle?" |
| Teddy: 一支啤酒 (jat1 zi1 be1 zau2), or 一樽啤酒. (jat1 zeon1 be1 zau2.) We use the classifier 支 (zi1) or 樽 (zeon1) for bottles. |
| Eric: Ok, try me now. |
| Teddy: 一打啤酒. (jat1 daa1 be1 zau2.) |
| Eric: "One dozen beers." |
| Teddy: Right! 一支啤酒. (jat1 zi1 be1 zau2.) |
| Eric: "One bottle of beer." |
| Teddy: Correct. How about 一杯啤酒? (jat1 bui1 be1 zau2 ?) |
| Eric: "One glass of beer." |
| Teddy: Excellent. Here’s an extra hint for you guys, if you want to order a pitcher of beer, you say 一JAR啤酒. (jat1 JAR be1 zau2.) |
| Eric: Great! And of course you can use these classifiers for other beverages! |
Outro |
| Eric: Listeners, that’s all the time we have for this lesson. Please check the lesson notes for more details. |
| Teddy: And we’ll see you in the next lesson. 下次見！(haa6 ci3 gin3!) |
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