Learn the all-important Cantonese verb that will get you to where you want to go
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Intro |
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| Nicole: 大家好 (daai6 gaa1 hou2). I'm Nicole. |
| Matt: And I'm Matt. Welcome back to CantoneseClass101.com. We're here again with another Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 16. |
| Nicole: Okay. So what are we learning today? |
| Matt: Well in this lesson you will learn how to order more beverages for your boyfriend or girlfriend or anybody else for that matter. And this is between two good-looking strangers. |
| Nicole: They're speaking casual Cantonese as always. |
| Matt: All right, Nicole, let's introduce our listeners to today's dialogue. |
Lesson conversation |
| 嗨，靚女！(haai1, leng3 neoi5!) |
| 點呀，靚仔。(dim2 aa3, leng3 zai2). |
| 得唔得閒，飲杯咖啡？(dak1 m4 dak1 haan4, jam2 bui1 gaa3 fe1?) |
| 好呀。(hou2 aa3). |
| English Host: One more time, a bit slower. |
| 嗨，靚女！(haai1 leng3 neoi5!) |
| 點呀，靚仔。(dim2 aa3, leng3 zai2). |
| 得唔得閒，飲杯咖啡？(dak1 m4 dak1 haan4, jam2 bui1 gaa3 fe1?) |
| 好呀。 (hou2 aa3). |
| h Host: And now with the English translation. |
| 嗨，靚女！(haai1 leng3 neoi5!) |
| Matt: Hi, pretty girl. |
| 點呀，靚仔。(dim2 aa3, leng3 zai2). |
| Matt: What's up, pretty guy? |
| 得唔得閒，飲杯咖啡？(dak1 m4 dak1 haan4, jam2 bui1 gaa3 fe1?) |
| Matt: Do you have time? Let's have a cup of coffee? |
| 好呀。 (hou2 aa3). |
| Matt: Sounds good. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Matt: Our guy finally managed to get the girl to agree on a date. He must know how to play that dice drinking game. |
| Nicole: I bet he is. He must be really good at a game. |
| Matt: Yeah. She must had won too many to drink last night, so she finally agreed to go out with him today. |
| Nicole: Yeah. |
| Matt: All right. Well, let's take a look at today's vocabulary, Nicole. |
| Nicole: 咖啡(gaa3 fe1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Coffee. |
| Nicole: 咖啡(gaa3 fe1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 咖啡(gaa3 fe1) [natural native speed]. 男朋友(naam4 pang4 jau5) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Boyfriend. |
| Nicole: 男朋友(naam4 pang4 jau5) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 男朋友(naam4 pang4 jau5) [natural native speed]. 女朋友(neoi5 pang4 jau5) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Girlfriend. |
| Nicole: 女朋友(neoi5 pang4 jau5) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 女朋友(neoi5 pang4 jau5) [natural native speed]. 茶(caa4) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Tea. |
| Nicole: 茶(caa4) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 茶(caa4) [natural native speed]. 紅酒 (hung4 zau2)[natural native speed] |
| Matt: Red wine. |
| Nicole: 紅酒(hung4 zau2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 紅酒(hung4 zau2) [natural native speed]. 白酒(baak6 zau2) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: White wine. |
| Nicole: 白酒(baak6 zau2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 白酒(baak6 zau2) [natural native speed]. 去(heoi3) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: To go. |
| Nicole: 去(heoi3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 去(heoi3) [natural native speed]. 嚟(lei4 / lai4) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: To come. |
| Nicole: 嚟(lei4 / lai4) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 嚟(lei4 / lai4) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Matt: All right, Nicole, let's go over the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Nicole: Okay. The first phrase is 咖啡 (gaa3 fe1) |
| Matt: Coffee. |
| Nicole: 咖啡 (gaa3 fe1) |
| Matt: This is pretty easy, it's coffee. |
| Nicole: Yup. 一杯咖啡(jat1 bui1 gaa3 fe1) |
| Matt: A cup of coffee. |
| Nicole: 我要一杯咖啡(ngo5 jiu3 jat1 bui1 gaa3 fe1) |
| Matt: I want a cup of coffee. |
| Nicole: 我鍾意咖啡(ngo5 zung1 ji3 gaa3 fe1) |
| Matt: I like coffee. |
| Nicole: 我鍾意飲咖啡(ngo5 zung1 ji3 jam2 gaa3 fe1) |
| Matt: I like drinking coffee. But what Cantonese people truly like is tea. |
| Nicole: Yeah, 茶 (caa4) |
| Matt: Tea |
| Nicole: 茶 (caa4) |
| Matt: Tea. Like in the word we learned for Cantonese brunch as well as for drinking tea. |
| Nicole: 飲茶 (jam2 caa4). |
| Matt: To drink tea or to have Cantonese brunch. |
| Nicole: 飲茶。(jam2 caa4). |
| Matt: So, Nicole, do you like drinking tea? |
| Nicole: 鍾意呀。(zung1 ji3 aa3)Because 我鍾意點心 (ngo5 zung1 ji3 dim2 sam1) |
| Matt: Ah so you like drinking tea, but that's because they serve all kinds of dim sum at a Cantonese brunch. |
| Nicole: Exactly, 我好鍾意食點心。(ngo5 hou2 zung1 ji3 sik6 dim2 sam1). |
| Matt: We know you love eating chicken feet, Nicole. You don't need to remind the listeners. |
| Nicole: Well, not just that, but also 蝦餃， 燒賣 (haa1 gaau2, siu1 maai2). |
| Matt: Oh yes, the famous shrimp dumplings. They are very delicious. |
| Nicole: Speaking of tea, we have to mention 功夫茶 (gung1 fu1 caa4). |
| Matt: Ah, Kung Fu tea. That's where they use Kungfu to make the tea, right? |
| Nicole: 功夫茶(gung1 fu1 caa4), maybe. The so-called 功夫茶(gung1 fu1 caa4), it's not really about Kungfu. |
| Matt: So what Kung Fu tea really is all about is that it's a highly ritualized tea service. |
| Nicole: I would say so. And another kind of important drink is of course 酒(zau2). |
| Matt: Yes alcohol. |
| Nicole: 酒(zau2) |
| Matt: This is familiar. We've learned the word before when we used the word beer. |
| Nicole: Yeah, 啤酒 (be1 zau2) |
| Matt: The first sound is the kind of alcohol, which in this case is beer; |
| Nicole: 啤 (be1). |
| Matt: And the second sound means alcohol in general. |
| Nicole: Yeah 酒 (zau2). |
| Matt: Now, what about wine? |
| Nicole: It's also 酒 (zau2). |
| Matt: Okay, what about white wine? |
| Nicole: 白酒 (baak6 zau2) |
| Matt: Which is literally white alcohol. |
| Nicole: Yeah, 白酒(baak6 zau2) |
| Matt: What if we want to say red wine? |
| Nicole: 紅酒 (hung4 zau2) |
| Matt: Red wine. |
| Nicole: 紅酒(hung4 zau2). And you can order 一杯紅酒(jat1 bui1 hung4 zau2) |
| Matt: That would be a glass of red wine. |
| Nicole: Or 一支白酒 (jat1 zi1 baak6 zau2) |
| Nicole: Exactly 佢哋鍾意飲酒 (keoi5 dei6 zung1 ji3 jam2 zau2) |
| Matt: This is they like drinking alcohol. Then again who doesn't? |
| Nicole: You can order drinks for someone else. Remember the word 幫 (bong1) |
| Matt: This word is the word to help. |
| Nicole: Right 幫佢要一支紅酒 (bong1 keoi5 jiu3 jat1 zi1 hung4 zau2). |
| Matt: Now, this is a little interesting. If we literally translate it, it means help him to want a bottle of red wine. |
| Nicole: Yeah, it sounds funny when you really translate it, 幫佢要一支紅酒 (bong1 keoi5 jiu3 jat1 zi1 hung4 zau2). |
| Matt: What you're really saying is that you're going to help order a bottle of red wine for him. |
| Nicole: That's right. And you can replace the person 佢(keoi5) and you can replace the noun 紅酒(hung4 zau2) with something else. For example, you can say 我幫你要一杯白酒 (ngo5 bong1 nei5 jiu3 jat1 bui1 baak6 zau2) |
| Matt: Okay, so that's I'll order a glass of white wine for you. So you kept the same sentence structure, you just replaced a few of the words. |
| Nicole: Exactly, or you can say 唔該，幫我要一個(m4 goi1, bong1 ngo5 jiu3 jat1 go3)pizza. |
| Matt: This is, please order a pizza for me. Now that is really useful. |
| Nicole: 係呀(hai6 aa1). That means yes. |
| Matt: Now, today we've learned different names of beverages in Cantonese, such as coffee. |
| Nicole: 咖啡(gaa3 fe1). |
| Matt: Tea. |
| Nicole: 茶(caa4). |
| Matt: Alcohol. |
| Nicole: 酒(zau2). |
| Matt: White wine. |
| Nicole: 白酒(baak6 zau2). |
| Matt: Red wine. |
| Nicole: 紅酒 (hung4 zau2). |
| Matt: And we've learned ways to order for you and for your friends. |
Lesson focus |
| Nicole: That's right, but before we move on to our grammar section, we need to learn another important word 去(heoi3). |
| Matt: Which means “to go”. |
| Nicole: 去(heoi3). |
| Matt: To go. Today's grammar will be all about this word. |
| Nicole: Yup, I think we're ready. Let's get to it. |
| Matt: The focus of today's grammar is “to go doing something.” |
| Nicole: 去(heoi3) doing something or go do something. |
| Matt: It's very common in English to use this structure as it is in Cantonese. |
| Nicole: That's right. We say in Cantonese 去做(heoi3 zou6) something. |
| Matt: Go do something. It's simple because you don't need to conjugate the verbs. Just say the verb to go. |
| Nicole: 去(heoi3). |
| Matt: And then you add another verb phrase, say to drink something. |
| Nicole: 飲嘢 (jam2 je5). |
| Matt: To go drink something |
| Nicole: 去飲嘢(heoi3 jam2 je5). And you can replace the 飲嘢(jam2 je5) with anything activities you want, like our top five dating things. |
| Matt: Yeah that's a good idea. Let's practice this 'to go' structure with our top five things you'll do on a date. |
| Nicole: Okay. I'll say the Cantonese first, and I want you listeners to repeat after me and think about what it means before Matt gives out the English translation. |
| Matt: All right, good idea. Let's go to it, Nicole. |
| Nicole: 去食飯 (heoi3 sik6 faan6). |
| Matt: To go eating. |
| Nicole: 去行街 (heoi3 haang4 gaai1). |
| Matt: To go shopping. |
| Nicole: 去買嘢 (heoi3 maai5 je5) |
| Matt: Also, to go shopping. |
| Nicole: 去睇戲 (heoi3 tai2 hei3) |
| Matt: To go watch a movie. |
| Nicole: 去飲嘢 (heoi3 jam2 je5) |
| Matt: To go drinking. |
| Nicole: 去飲酒 (heoi3 jam2 zau2) |
| Matt: To go drinking alcohol specifically. |
| Nicole: 去飲咖啡 (heoi3 jam2 gaa3 fe1). |
| Matt: To go to have a coffee. |
| Nicole: 去兜風 (heoi3 dau1 fung1) |
| Matt: To go for a joy ride. |
| Nicole: Last but not least 去飲茶 (heoi3 jam2 caa4) |
| Matt: This is to go drink tea or have Cantonese brunch. But that's not on our dating list, is it? |
| Nicole: Maybe for some. |
| Matt: Okay. So just tuck whatever verb phrase you want on to… |
| Nicole: 去 (heoi3). |
| Matt: And it's that simple. |
| Nicole: Right 去學廣東話(heoi3 hok6 gwong2 dung1 waa2) to go learn Cantonese. |
| Matt: Now if you want to make complete sentences with this phrase, it's going to be just as easy. |
| Nicole: Right. It follows the same subject-verb pattern. |
| Matt: And we're going to teach four different types of sentences that you can say with this phrase. |
| Nicole: First, you can make it a statement 佢哋去兜風 (keoi5 dei6 heoi3 dau1 fung1). |
| Matt: They're going joy-riding. |
| Nicole: 我哋去買嘢 (ngo5 dei6 heoi3 maai5 je5). |
| Matt: We are going shopping. |
| Nicole: Or you can make it a question by raising the tone 你去行街？(nei5 heoi3 haang4 gaai1?) |
| Matt: Are you going shopping? Or did you go shopping? |
| Nicole: 你去睇戲？(nei5 heoi3 tai2 hei3?) |
| Matt: Are you going to the cinema? |
| Nicole: Another way of making it a question is to add a low pitch 呀(a4) to the end 你去行街呀？(nei5 heoi3 haang4 gaai1 a4?) |
| Matt: Are you going shopping? Remember it's a low soft 呀 (a4) if it's a question. |
| Nicole: 你去睇戲呀？(nei5 heoi3 tai2 hei3 a4?) |
| Matt: Are you going to the movie? |
| Nicole: Or if you want to make it a suggestion, simply add 一齊(jat1 cai4). |
| Matt: Together. |
| Nicole: Or 不如(bat1 jyu4). |
| Matt: How about. |
| Nicole: Before the 去(heoi3) phrase. |
| Matt: Let's hear some examples |
| Nicole: 一齊去學廣東話吖 (jat1 cai4 heoi3 hok6 gwong2 dung1 waa2 aa1). |
| Matt: Let's go learn Cantonese! That's a great suggestion. Listen carefully to how Nicole says the high pitch 吖 (aa1) at the end of the sentence. |
| Nicole: 一齊去食飯吖 (jat1 cai4 heoi3 sik6 faan6 aa1). |
| Matt: Let's go eat. If it's a suggestion, you want to say the 吖 (aa1) with a higher pitch. |
| Nicole: That's right, to make it sound exciting. 一齊去飲茶吖！(jat1 cai4 heoi3 jam2 caa4 aa1!) |
| Matt: Drinking tea, that makes it sound temptingly fun now. |
| Nicole: Yeah 不如去飲茶兜風吖 (bat1 jyu4 heoi3 jam2 caa4 dau1 fung1 aa1) |
| Matt: How about we go have a joy ride? |
| Nicole: 不如去飲啤酒吖(bat1 jyu4 heoi3 jam2 be1 zau2 aa1). |
| Matt: How about we go drink beer? |
| Nicole: 不如一齊去食點心吖 (bat1 jyu4 jat1 cai4 heoi3 sik6 dim2 sam1 aa1). |
| Matt: How about we go eat dim sum together. Now there's one last type of sentence that we want to tell our listeners about. |
| Nicole: Yep, a request or an order. You can say 我要去食飯！(ngo5 jiu3 heoi3 sik6 faan6!) |
| Matt: I need to go eating! Now, this is your favorite sentence, Nicole. |
| Nicole: No. That's not. My favorite sentence is 我要去買嘢！(ngo5 jiu3 heoi3 maai5 je5!) |
| Matt: You're right, I need to go shopping. |
| Nicole: 我要去飲酒！(ngo5 jiu3 heoi3 jam2 zau2!) |
| Matt: I need to go drinking! |
| Nicole: That's your favorite, Matt. Or you'll hear your boss say 你要去做野！(nei5 jiu3 heoi3 zou6 je5!) |
| Matt: You need to go to work! |
| Nicole: Or 我哋要學廣東話 (ngo5 dei6 jiu3 hok6 gwong2 dung1 waa2). |
| Matt: We need to learn Cantonese. |
| Nicole: Who doesn't? |
| Matt: Okay, to sum up, today we've learned different drinks, and the 'to go' phrase, and we've practiced it in four types of sentences. |
| Nicole: That's right. Keep practicing and you'll get better and better. |
| Matt: Well that just about does it for our lesson today. But before we go, we want to tell you about a way to improve your pronunciation drastically. |
| Nicole: The voice recording tool. |
| Matt: Yes, the omnipotent voice recording tool located in the premium learning center. |
| Nicole: Record your voice with a click of a button… |
| Matt: …and then play it back just as easily. |
| Nicole: So you record your voice and then listen to it. |
| Matt: Compare it to the native speakers… |
| Nicole: …and adjust your pronunciation. |
| Matt: This will help you to improve your pronunciation fast. |
| Nicole: That's our lesson for today. |
| Matt: Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time. |
| Nicole: See you. |
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