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Cantonese Survival phrases, Lesson 42. Buying a Phone card. While most people wouldn’t or couldn’t step outside without their cell phones, when visiting another country, sometimes it’s a little too far for your local career. So if you feel like saving your pennies, buy a local telephone phone card. Before asking for a card, you may want to find out if they have the cards. In Cantonese, do you have telephone cards is 有冇電話卡?(jau5 mou5 din6 waa2 kaat1) Let’s break it down by syllable. 有 冇 電 話 卡?(jau5 mou5 din6 waa2 kaat1) Now let’s hear it one more time. 有冇電話卡?(jau5 mou5 din6 waa2 kaat1). The first phrase 有冇(jau5 mou5) means do you have. Let’s break down this word and hear it one more time 有冇(jau5 mou5), 有冇(jau5 mou5). Next we have the Cantonese noun for telephone 電話(din6 waa2), 電話(din6 waa2) telephone. Let’s break it down by syllable and hear it once again 電 話(din6 waa2), 電話(din6 waa2). Finally we have 卡(kaat1) which you might already have figured out. It means card in Cantonese. Let’s hear it one more time 卡(kaat1), 卡(kaat1). Altogether we have 有冇電話卡?(jau5 mou5 din6 waa2 kaat1) Literally this means have or have not phone card. Another way to ask for a phone card is to say, do you have SIM card which in Cantonese is 有冇SIM卡?(jau5 mou5 SIM kaat1) Let’s hear it again. 有冇SIM卡?(jau5 mou5 SIM kaat1) This sentence is pretty easy. The first phrases 有冇(jau5 mou5) means to have or have not which we have covered in the beginning of our lesson. Following 有冇(jau5 mou5) is SIM卡(SIM kaat1) which you might have guessed its meaning SIM card. So the whole sentence is 有冇SIM卡?(jau5 mou5 SIM kaat1), 有冇SIM卡?(jau5 mou5 SIM kaat1) Do you have SIM card? The answer to this will be, yes 有(jau5) or no 冇(mou5), yes 有(jau5) no 冇(mou5). After you purchase a phone card, you may need to activate it by topping it up with credit. In Cantonese, a top up card is called 儲值卡(cyu5 zik6 kaat1). Once again 儲值卡(cyu5 zik6 kaat1). Let’s start with a HKD50 儲值卡(cyu5 zik6 kaat1). In Cantonese a HKD50 top up card please is 一張五十蚊嘅儲值卡, 唔該(jat1 zeong1 n5 sap6 man1 ge3 cyu5 zik6 kaat1, m4 goi1). Now this is a long sentence but don’t worry. Let’s break it down by syllable. 一 張 五 十 蚊 嘅 儲 值 卡, 唔 該(jat1 zeong1 n5 sap6 man1 ge3 cyu5 zik6 kaat1, m4 goi1). Now let’s hear it one more time. 一張五十蚊嘅儲值卡, 唔該(jat1 zeong1 n5 sap6 man1 ge3 cyu5 zik6 kaat1, m4 goi1). A HKD50 top up card please. The first word 一(jat1) means one followed by 張(zeong1) which is the measure word for paper or card 張(zeong1), 一 張(jat1 zeong1). A piece of 一 張(jat1 zeong1) A piece of. Then you have 五十蚊(n5 sap6 man1), 五十蚊(n5 sap6 man1) which means HKD50 五十蚊(n5 sap6 man1). After this, you have 儲值卡(cyu5 zik6 kaat1) which translates as top up card 儲值卡(cyu5 zik6 kaat1). Let’s hear it one more time 儲值卡(cyu5 zik6 kaat1). To recap here, we have 一張五十蚊儲值卡(jat1 zeong1 n5 sap6 man1 cyu5 zik6 kaat1) After this you have 嘅(ge3), 嘅(ge3) which equals to apostrophe S in English. So 五十蚊嘅(n5 sap6 man1 ge3) means HKD50’s 五十蚊嘅(n5 sap6 man1 ge3) HKD50’s. So to recap here, we have 一張五十蚊嘅(jat1 zeong1 n5 sap6 man1 ge3) a HKD50’s. Then you have 儲值卡(cyu5 zik6 kaat1) which translates as top up card 儲值卡(cyu5 zik6 kaat1), 儲值卡(cyu5 zik6 kaat1), 一張五十蚊嘅儲值卡(jat1 zeong1 n5 sap6 man1 ge3 cyu5 zik6 kaat1), a HKD50 top up card and finally you have the very useful 唔該(m4 goi1) which means please in here. 唔該(m4 goi1) please. 一張五十蚊嘅儲值卡, 唔該(jat1 zeong1 n5 sap6 man1 ge3 cyu5 zik6 kaat1, m4 goi1). A HKD50 top up card please. For a HKD100 card, you just have to change the value in the way 一張一百蚊嘅儲值卡, 唔該(jat1 zeong1 jat1 baak3 man1 ge3 cyu5 zik6 kaat1, m4 goi1). Let’s hear it one more time. 一張一百蚊嘅儲值卡, 唔該(jat1 zeong1 jat1 baak3 man1 ge3 cyu5 zik6 kaat1, m4 goi1). A HKD100 top up card please. Now if you are looking for a pay phone, you have to ask 附近有冇電話亭?(fu6 gan6 jau5 mou5 din6 waa2 ting4) Let’s hear it again 附近有冇電話亭?(fu6 gan6 jau5 mou5 din6 waa2 ting4). This means, is there a pay phone near here. Now we’ve already covered the phrase, is there an X near here which is 附近有冇?(fu6 gan6 jau5 mou5),附近有冇?(fu6 gan6 jau5 mou5) Is there an X near here? In the case of a pay phone, we only have to add 電話亭(din6 waa2 ting4), 電話亭(din6 waa2 ting4). Pay phone or phone booth. So the entire sentence is 附近有冇電話亭?(fu6 gan6 jau5 mou5 din6 waa2 ting4). Let’s hear it again 附近有冇電話亭?(fu6 gan6 jau5 mou5 din6 waa2 ting4). Is there a pay phone near here? All right, that’s it for today’s lesson. Let’s move to the regular test and see how much you can remember. Do you have telephone cards ? 有冇電話卡?(jau5 mou5 din6 waa2 kaat1) Do you have SIM card? 有冇SIM卡?(jau5 mou5 SIM kaat1) A HKD50 top up card please. 一張五十蚊嘅儲值卡, 唔該(jat1 zeong1 n5 sap6 man1 ge3 cyu5 zik6 kaat1, m4 goi1) A HKD100 top up card please. 一張一百蚊嘅儲值卡, 唔該(jat1 zeong1 jat1 baak3 man1 ge3 cyu5 zik6 kaat1, m4 goi1). Is there a pay phone near here? 附近有冇電話亭?(fu6 gan6 jau5 mou5 din6 waa2 ting4) All right, that’s about does it for today. Remember to stop by cantoneseclass101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF and if you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. Bye bye.

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