Review Cantonese grammatical patterns, especially adverbs of degree
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Intro |
|---|
| Nicole: 大家好(daai6 gaa3 hou2). I'm Nicole. |
| Matt: Matt here! Welcome back to CantoneseClass101.com Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 24. |
| Nicole: Welcome back. So what are we learning today? |
| Matt: Well today, Nicole, we're going to be learning how to offend friends and family. |
| Nicole: That's going to be useful. The conversation takes place at home. |
| Matt: Maybe your home, not my home. And this conversation is between two friends, one of whom is learning Cantonese. |
| Nicole: The speakers are friends, so they are speaking casual Cantonese. |
| Matt: All right, Nicole, let's dive right in to today's dialogue. |
| Nicole: All right. |
Lesson conversation |
| 廣東話點講 ugly 呀？(gwong2 dung3 waa2 dim2 gong2 ugly aa3?) |
| 樣衰。(joeng2 seoi1.) |
| 哦，"你好樣衰"！(o2, "nei5 hou2 joeng2 seoi1!") |
| ... |
| 啱唔啱 呀？(ngaam1 m4 ngaam1 aa3?) |
| 啱。(ngaam1.) |
| English Host: One more time, a bit slower. |
| 廣東話點講 ugly 呀？(gwong2 dung3 waa2 dim2 gong2 ugly aa3?) |
| 樣衰。(joeng2 seoi1.) |
| 哦，"你好樣衰"！(o2, "nei5 hou2 joeng2 seoi1!") |
| ... |
| 啱唔啱 呀？(ngaam1 m4 ngaam1 aa3?) |
| 啱。(ngaam1.) |
| English Host: And now with the English translation. |
| 廣東話點講 ugly 呀？(gwong2 dung3 waa2 dim2 gong2 ugly aa3?) |
| Matt: How do you say "ugly" in Cantonese? |
| 樣衰。(joeng2 seoi1.) |
| Matt: Joeng2 seoi1 |
| 哦，"你好樣衰"！(o2, "nei5 hou2 joeng2 seoi1!") |
| Matt: Oh, "you're very ugly"! |
| ... |
| Matt.... |
| 啱唔啱 呀？(ngaam1 m4 ngaam1 aa3?) |
| Matt: Is it right? |
| 啱。(ngaam1.) |
| Matt: Yes. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Matt: So, I'm not quite sure who's saying what here, Nicole. It kind of sounds like someone's calling somebody ugly and they're asking, is that right? Are you sure? And then the person is confirming that yes, they are ugly. Anyway, that's not really important. I think the subject here just wanted to practice the word. |
| Nicole: Maybe. |
| Matt: When you learn a new word, it helps to make a sentence right away. |
| Nicole: Sure, but 你好樣衰(nei5 hou2 joeng2 seoi1)？ |
| Matt: Yeah, you're right, kind of a poor choice of sentences. |
| Nicole: "你好樣衰"!(" nei5 hou2 joeng2 seoi1 "!) I'd say that's a poor choice of sentence. |
| Matt: It's a useful adjective though. |
| Nicole: 樣衰?(joeng2 seoi1?) |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Matt: That's right. It's actually the first word in our vocabulary section today. |
| Nicole: 樣衰(joeng2 seoi1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Ugly. |
| Nicole: 樣衰(joeng2 seoi1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 樣衰(joeng2 seoi1) [natural native speed]. 點講(dim2 gong2) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: How to say. |
| Nicole: 點講(dim2 gong2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 點講(dim2 gong2) [natural native speed]. 啱(ngaam1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Correct. |
| Nicole: 啱(ngaam1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 啱(ngaam1) [natural native speed]. 瘦(sau3) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Thin. |
| Nicole: 瘦(sau3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 瘦(sau3) [natural native speed]. 肥(fei4) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Fat. |
| Nicole: 肥(fei4) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 肥(fei4) [natural native speed]. 熱(jit6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Hot. |
| Nicole: 熱(jit6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 熱(jit6) [natural native speed]. 凍(dung3) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Cold. |
| Nicole: 凍(dung3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 凍(dung3) [natural native speed]. 高(gou1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Tall. |
| Nicole: 高(gou1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 高(gou1) [natural native speed]. 矮(ngai2) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Short. |
| Nicole: 矮(ngai2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 矮(ngai2) [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Matt: All right, Nicole. Let's take a closer look at some of these very useful words and phrases. |
| Nicole: All right, the first word is 樣衰 (joeng2 seoi1.) |
| Matt: This one is an adjective. |
| Nicole: 樣衰 (joeng2 seoi1) |
| Matt: It means "ugly," the word we heard in the dialogue. |
| Nicole: 你好樣衰！(nei5 hou2 joeng2 seoi1!) |
| Matt: You're really ugly! Make sure you're careful when you're using this one. |
| Nicole: But if you change it, it can be really good. |
| Matt: Sure. Let's see how. |
| Nicole: 你好靚！(nei5 hou2 leng3!) |
| Matt: You're really beautiful. |
| Nicole: 你好靚！(nei5 hou2 leng3!) |
| Matt: You're really beautiful. |
| Matt: Our vocabulary section today is full of other adjectives. |
| Nicole: Let's start with the good ones. |
| Nicole: 啱 (ngaam1) |
| Matt: Correct. |
| Nicole: 你好啱(nei5 hou2 ngaam1) |
| Matt: You're right. |
| Nicole: 你好啱(nei5 hou2 ngaam1) |
| Matt: You're right. |
| Nicole: 瘦 (sau3) |
| Matt: Thin. |
| Nicole: 你好瘦(nei5 hou2 sau3) |
| Matt: You're thin. |
| Nicole: 你好瘦 (nei5 hou2 sau3) |
| Matt: You're thin. But it might not be a compliment when you say that, depending on where you're from. The opposite of that would be? |
| Nicole: 肥(fei4) |
| Matt: Fat. |
| Nicole: 你好肥(nei5 hou2 fei4) |
| Matt: You're very fat. |
| Nicole: Now, that's definitely not a compliment no matter where you are. |
| Matt: Right. Now, I do have four more adjectives. |
| Nicole: 高(gou1) |
| Matt: Tall. |
| Nicole: 高(gou1) |
| Matt: Tall. |
| Nicole: 瘦(sau3) |
| Matt: Thin |
| Nicole: 瘦(sau3) |
| Matt: Thin. |
| Nicole: 熱(jit6) |
| Matt: Hot. |
| Nicole: 熱(jit6) |
| Matt: Hot. |
| Nicole: 凍(dung3) |
| Matt: Cold. |
| Nicole: 凍(dung3) |
| Matt: Cold. |
| Nicole: Great, let's play a game and see how much you remember. |
| Matt: Okay, I think I'm ready for that. |
| Nicole: I'll say a word, you give me the adjective to describe it. |
| Matt: All right. Let's go. |
| Nicole: 咖啡(gaa3 fe1) |
| Matt: That's coffee, so an adjective for that would be 好正(hou2 zeng3), awesome. |
| Nicole: You say my word 正(zeng3), 好正(hou2 zeng3). But coffee is also “hot” 熱(jit6) |
| Matt: Hot. All right, next, we have? |
| Nicole: 成龍(sing4 lung4) |
| Matt: That's Jackie Chan. And a word to describe him would be short. |
| Nicole: Short? |
| Matt: Yeah, short. |
| Nicole: 矮(ngai2). 成龍(sing4 lung4) is not 矮(ngai2). He is handsome 成龍好靚仔 (sing4 lung4 hou2 leng3 zai2) |
| Matt: Well he's shorter than me. |
| Nicole: That's because you're 高(gou1) you're 好高(hou2 gou1) |
| Matt: Very tall. Okay, Nicole. How do we say "Nicole is very short." |
| Nicole: That would be Matt 好樣衰。(hou2 joeng2 seoi1.) |
| Nicole: I'm not ugly, Nicole. Anyway, let's review once more. What are our new adjectives? |
| Nicole: 啱(ngaam1) |
| Matt: Right, or correct. |
| Nicole: 樣衰(joeng2 seoi1) |
| Matt: Ugly. |
| Nicole: 瘦(sau3) |
| Matt: Thin. |
| Nicole: 肥(fei4) |
| Matt: Fat. |
| Nicole: 熱(jit6) |
| Matt: Hot. |
| Nicole: 凍(dung3) |
| Matt: Cold. |
| Nicole: 高(gou1) |
| Matt: Tall |
| Nicole: 矮(ngai2) |
| Matt: Short. |
Lesson focus |
| Matt: In our grammar section we're going to review how to use these adjectives in different sentence structure. |
| Nicole: All right. |
| Matt: So we're almost at the end of our first Absolute Beginner series. |
| Nicole: And we've learned a lot. |
| Matt: That's right we have. And one of our most important things that we've learned are different ways to make sentences with adjectives. |
| Nicole: Correct. |
| Matt: So today we want to slow things down just a bit and review all of the different grammar patterns that we've learned to date. |
| Nicole: The first one is Subject + 好(hou2) + adjective. |
| Matt: I'm really good. |
| Nicole: 我好好 (ngo5 hou2 hou2.) |
| Matt: You're really beautiful. |
| Nicole: 你好靚 (nei5 hou2 leng3.) |
| Matt: Jackie Chan is really short. |
| Nicole: No he's not. But you can say Jackie Chan is very handsome 成龍好靚仔 (sing4 lung4 hou2 leng3 zai2) |
| Matt: So that's our first sentence structure. |
| Nicole: It's the easiest. |
| Matt: Now our second sentence uses 太(taai3) instead of 仲(zung6) |
| Nicole: Right 呢個太貴喇 (ni1 go3 taai3 gwai3 laa3) |
| Matt: This is too expensive! |
| Nicole: 嗰個太大喇 (go2 go3 taai3 daai6 laa3) |
| Matt: That is too big! |
| Nicole: 我唔可以食，太熱喇 (ngo5 m4 ho2 ji5 sik6 , taai3 jit6 laa3). |
| Matt: I can't eat it. It's too hot! |
| Nicole: 太熱(taai3 jit6) is too hot or too spicy, that would be 太辣 (taai3 laat6). |
| Matt: Our third grammar pattern uses… |
| Nicole: 仲 (zung6). |
| Matt: Even more. |
| Nicole: 仲辣(zung6 laat6) |
| Matt: Even more spicy. |
| Nicole: 仲慢(zung6 maan6) |
| Matt: Even more slow. |
| Nicole:仲慢 (zung6 maan6) |
| Matt: Even more expensive. |
| Nicole:仲凍(zung6 dung3) |
| Matt: Even more cold. So those are the three most important ones. Really. |
| Nicole: 好(hou2) |
| Matt: Too. |
| Nicole: 太(taai3) |
| Matt: And even more. |
| Nicole: 仲(zung6). Only one left, only one more left and that's making these sentences negative. For instance 成龍唔矮 (sing4 lung4 m4 ngai2) |
| Matt: Jackie Chan is not short. How about Tony Leung is not handsome. |
| Nicole: Okay, that's not true. I'm not translating that, but you can say 梁朝偉唔靚仔(loeng4 ciu4 wai5 m4 leng3 zai2) |
| Matt: Matt is sexy. |
| Nicole: No. Matt is not handsome, but Tony Leung 梁朝偉好性感(loeng4 ciu4 wai5 hou2 sing3 gam2). Tony Leung is sexy! |
| Matt: All right. So to make adjective sentences negative, we replace 好(hou2) with 唔 (m4). |
| Nicole: Right 呢個好好(ni1 go3 hou2 hou2) |
| Matt: It is good. |
| Nicole: 呢個唔好 (ni1 go3 m4 hou2) |
| Matt: It is not good. |
| Nicole: Or 呢個好貴 (ni1 go3 hou2 gwai3) |
| Matt: That is expensive. |
| Nicole: 呢個唔貴 (ni1 go3 m4 gwai3) |
| Matt: That is not expensive |
| Nicole: And here's a tip for those of you who speak Cantonese. You can't put 唔 (m4) in front of other adjectives to make negative sentences. |
| Matt: Right. |
| Nicole: You have to say 呢個唔貴 (ni1 go3 m4 gwai3) |
| Matt: This is not too expensive. But if you're new to Cantonese, don't worry about that yet. We'll cover that in an upcoming lesson. For now, just try to remember those four sentence patterns. |
| Nicole: Subject + 好(hou2) + adjective. |
| Matt: Subject + 太(taai3) + adjective. |
| Nicole: Subject + 仲(zung6) + adjective. |
| Matt: And finally from the robots here, Subject + 唔(m4) + adjective. |
| Nicole: Right. |
| Matt: And that's it for today's lesson. 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 can record your voice and then listen to it. |
| Matt: Compare it to a native speakers... |
| Nicole: ...and adjust your pronunciation! |
| Matt: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast! |
| Nicole: That's true. Thank you for staying with us. I'm Nicole. |
| Matt: And I'm Matt. We'll see you next time. |
| Nicole: Bye-bye. |
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