Learn how to say "everything"
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| 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 today with Beginner Season 1, Lesson 17. |
| Gimmy: Eating Out in Hong Kong. |
| David: Right. There is a ton of great food in Hong Kong. |
| Gimmy: Any style you can think of. |
| David: Yeah. Chinese food, non-Chinese food, Hong Kong is one of the best places for eating out. Today, we’re going to learn how to order food in Cantonese so you can really eat like a loco. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: Our dialogue takes place in a restaurant between a waiter and a customer who’s ordering dinner. It’s casual but standard Cantonese as spoken in Hong Kong. |
| Gimmy: Let’s listen to it. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| A: 你想食咩餸？ (nei5 soeng2 sik6 me1 sung3?) |
| B: 是但啦。(si6 daan6 laa1.) |
| A: 雞肉定牛肉？(gai1 juk6 ding6 ngau4 juk6?) |
| B: 乜都得啦。(mat1 dou1 dak1 laa1.) |
| David: One more time, a bit slower. |
| A: 你想食咩餸？ (nei5 soeng2 sik6 me1 sung3?) |
| B: 是但啦。(si6 daan6 laa1.) |
| A: 雞肉定牛肉？(gai1 juk6 ding6 ngau4 juk6?) |
| B: 乜都得啦。(mat1 dou1 dak1 laa1.) |
| David: And now, with the English translation. |
| A: 你想食咩餸？ (nei5 soeng2 sik6 me1 sung3?) |
| A: What do you want to eat? |
| B: 是但啦。(si6 daan6 laa1.) |
| B: Whatever. |
| A: 雞肉定牛肉？(gai1 juk6 ding6 ngau4 juk6?) |
| A: Chicken or beef? |
| B: 乜都得啦。(mat1 dou1 dak1 laa1.) |
| B: Everything is fine. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: This has to be infuriating for the waiter. |
| Gimmy: I know. |
| David: Right. Like, “Would you like chicken? Would you like beef?” |
| Gimmy: So indecisive. |
| David: Like, “Do you want me to give you the most expensive thing on the menu?” Anyway, as you could tell, our vocab is food, kinds of food, popular menu choices. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: So let’s get right to that. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Gimmy: 想 (soeng2) [natural native speed] |
| David: To want. |
| Gimmy: 想 (soeng2) [slowly - broken down by syllable] 想 (soeng2) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 食 (sik6) [natural native speed]. |
| David: To eat. |
| Gimmy: 食 (sik6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 食 (sik6) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 餸 (sung3) [natural native speed] |
| David: Dish. |
| Gimmy: 餸 (sung3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 餸 (sung3) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 是但 (si6 daan6) [natural native speed] |
| David: Whatever. |
| Gimmy: 是但 (si6 daan6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 是但 (si6 daan6) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 牛肉 (ngau4 juk6) [natural native speed] |
| David: Beef. |
| Gimmy: 牛肉 (ngau4 juk6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 牛肉 (ngau4 juk6) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 雞肉 (gai1 juk6) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Chicken. |
| Gimmy: 雞肉 (gai1 juk6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 雞肉 (gai1 juk6) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 羊肉 (joeng4 juk6) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Lamb. |
| Gimmy: 羊肉 (joeng4 juk6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 羊肉 (joeng4 juk6) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 定 (ding6) [natural native speed] |
| David: Or. |
| Gimmy: 定 (ding6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 定 (ding6) [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| David: Let’s take a closer look at some of these words and phrases. The first word we want to highlight is the word for dish. |
| Gimmy: 餸. (sung3.) |
| David: “Dish.” |
| Gimmy: 餸. (sung3.) |
| David: Now, this isn’t dish as in “bowl”, this is dish as in… |
| Gimmy: A type of food. |
| David: Yes. So in the dialogue, the waiter asked… |
| Gimmy: 你想食咩餸？ (nei5 soeng2 sik6 me1 sung3?) |
| David: We translated this as, “What do you want to eat?” |
| Gimmy: 你想食咩餸？ (nei5 soeng2 sik6 me1 sung3?) |
| David: But really it’s “You want to eat what dish?” |
| Gimmy: 咩餸？(me1 sung3?) |
| David: “What dish?” |
| Gimmy: 咩餸？(me1 sung3?) |
| David: Now normally when you’re asked this question, you should tell them the name of the dish. But that’s not what happens. |
| Gimmy: In the dialogue, the customer says 是但啦 (si6 daan6 laa1). |
| David: “Whatever.” |
| Gimmy: 是但啦 (si6 daan6 laa1). |
| David: Right, which is the word “whatever...” |
| Gimmy: 是但 (si6 daan6). |
| David: With everyone’s favorite phonetic particle, 啦 (laa1). |
| Gimmy: 是但啦 (si6 daan6 laa1). |
| David: Right. Not a very helpful answer. So our waiter tries to help out. He says, “Let’s narrow it down. We’ve got beef… |
| Gimmy: 牛肉. (ngau4 juk6.) |
| David: …or chicken.” |
| Gimmy: 雞肉. (gai1 juk6.) |
| David: “Beef.” |
| Gimmy: 牛肉. (ngau4 juk6.) |
| David: “I want to eat beef.” |
| Gimmy: 我想食牛肉. (ngo5 soeng2 sik6 ngau4 juk6.) |
| David: “I want to eat beef.” |
| Gimmy: 我想食牛肉. (ngo5 soeng2 sik6 ngau4 juk6.) |
| David: Or “chicken.” |
| Gimmy: 雞肉. (gai1 juk6.) |
| David: “I want to eat chicken.” |
| Gimmy: 我想食雞肉. (ngo5 soeng2 sik6 gai1 juk6.) |
| David: Another popular kind of meat is lamb. |
| Gimmy: 羊肉. (joeng4 juk6.) |
| David: “Lamb.” |
| Gimmy: 羊肉. (joeng4 juk6.) Lamb is not so popular in Hong Kong but I really like it. |
| David: It’s getting more and more popular. |
| Gimmy: I think so. |
| David: Although you didn’t use to find it at many restaurants. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: Either way, these are three basic meats. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: We’ve got.. |
| Gimmy: 牛肉. (ngau4 juk6.) |
| David: “Beef.” |
| Gimmy: 雞肉. (gai1 juk6.) |
| David: “Chicken.” |
| Gimmy: 羊肉. (joeng4 juk6.) |
| David: “Lamb.” And in most restaurants, all of those dishes will be packed together. So if you can identify the word for chicken, beef, and lamb as you see it our transcript, you’ll be able to figure out what dish has what inside it. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: With that said, we’re done our vocab section. Let’s move on to our grammar section, which is talking about everything. |
| David: It’s grammar time! |
Lesson focus |
| David: Okay, Gimmy, what are we talking about today? |
| Gimmy: We’re talking about how to say “everything”. |
| David: Right. In the dialogue, we heard this in the last line. |
| Gimmy: 乜都. (mat1 dou1.) |
| David: “Everything is fine.” |
| Gimmy: 乜都得啦. (mat1 dou1 dak1 laa1.) |
| David: “Everything is fine.” The key part of that sentence is the first part. |
| Gimmy: 乜都. (mat1 dou1.) |
| David: Everything. |
| Gimmy: 乜都. (mat1 dou1.) |
| David: This can go at the front of the sentence as the subject as with the sentence, “Everything’s fine.” |
| Gimmy: 乜都得啦. (mat1 dou1 dak1 laa1.) |
| David: “Everything is fine.” |
| Gimmy: 乜都得啦. (mat1 dou1 dak1 laa1.) |
| David: Or maybe, “Everything is good.” |
| Gimmy: 乜都好. (mat1 dou1 hou2.) |
| David: “Everything is good.” |
| Gimmy: 乜都好. (mat1 dou1 hou2.) |
| David: We can also put it after our subject but before our verb as the object of the sentence. For instance, “I eat everything.” |
| Gimmy: 我乜都食. (ngo5 mat1 dou1 sik6.) |
| David: “I eat everything.” |
| Gimmy: 我乜都食. (ngo5 mat1 dou1 sik6.) |
| David: “He wants to buy everything.” |
| Gimmy: 佢乜都想買. (keoi5 mat1 dou1 soeng2 maai5.) |
| David: “He wants to buy everything.” |
| Gimmy: 佢乜都想買. (keoi5 mat1 dou1 soeng2 maai5.) |
| David: Or maybe you’re feeling apathetic and you might say, “I don’t care about anything.” |
| Gimmy: 我乜都唔理. (ngo5 mat1 dou1 m4 lei5.) |
| David: “I don’t care about anything.” |
| Gimmy: 我乜都唔理. (ngo5 mat1 dou1 m4 lei5.) |
| David: So once more, the phrase… |
| Gimmy: 乜都... (mat1 dou1...) |
| David: …can translate as “everything”… |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: …or “anything.” |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: We can use it as the subject in our sentence… |
| Gimmy: 乜都好. (mat1 dou1 hou2.) |
| David: …”Everything is good”, or as the object. |
| Gimmy: 我乜都唔理. (ngo5 mat1 dou1 m4 lei5.) |
| David: “I don’t care about anything.” A small word but a very powerful one. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: Just don’t use it when you’re ordering food in a restaurant. |
| Gimmy: I know. Don’t say 我乜都唔要 (ngo5 mat1 dou1 m4 jiu3), that’s “I don’t want anything.” |
Outro |
| David: Yeah. And with that, that’s our lesson for today. I’m David. |
| Gimmy: I’m Gimmy. |
| David: Thanks a lot for listening and we’ll see you on the site. |
| Gimmy: 多謝收聽, 下次見. (do1 ze6 sau1 teng1, haa6 ci3 gin3.) |
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