Learn about Cantonese time words and where they appear in Cantonese sentences
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Intro |
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| Nicole: 大家好(daai6 gaa1 hou2). I'm Nicole. |
| Matt: Hi, everybody. I'm Matt, and welcome back to CantoneseClass101.com Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 25. |
| Nicole: That's right, welcome back. So what are we looking at today? |
| Matt: Today is a special day, Nicole, since we have lesson 25 in our first Absolute Beginner series! |
| Nicole: Yeah, this is the last lesson we have. |
| Matt: That's right. Don't get too excited, we're almost there! Now, in this lesson you will learn how to treat a friend to drinks which you should be doing to me after we get done here. |
| Nicole: The conversation takes place at an office. |
| Matt: It's between two colleagues who like each other somewhat. |
| Nicole: The speakers are friends, so they're speaking casual Cantonese. |
| Matt: All right, Nicole, let's move right into the dialogue. |
Lesson conversation |
| 今晚去酒吧飲酒？(gam1 maan1 heoi3 zau2 baa1 jam2 zau2?) |
| 啊.. (aa6...) |
| 我請。(ngo5 ceng2.) |
| 一定到。(jat1 ding6 dou3.) |
| English Host: One more time, a bit slower. |
| 今晚去酒吧飲酒？(gam1 maan1 heoi3 zau2 baa1 jam2 zau2?) |
| 啊.. (aa6...) |
| 我請。(ngo5 ceng2.) |
| 一定到。(jat1 ding6 dou3.) |
| English Host: And now with the English translation. |
| 今晚去酒吧飲酒？(gam1 maan1 heoi3 zau2 baa1 jam2 zau2?) |
| Matt: Let's have a drink in the bar tonight. |
| 啊.. (aa6...) |
| Matt: Uh... |
| 我請。(ngo5 ceng2.) |
| Matt: My treat. |
| 一定到。(jat1 ding6 dou3.) |
| Matt: I'll definitely be there. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Matt: Everybody likes a free drink. And as we can see here, our second speaker didn't change his mind until after he heard that the first one was treating. |
| Nicole: My treat! 我請! (ngo5 ceng2!) |
| Matt: You can make a lot of friends with these words. |
| Nicole: 我請! (ngo5 ceng2!) |
| Matt: Okay everyone. Drinks are on Nicole after this lesson! |
| Nicole: 咩話? (me1 waa2?) |
| Matt: We'll see you at the Victoria Hotel. Drinks on Nicole! |
| Nicole: Ha ha ha. That's a really nice bar. |
| Matt: And that's why you're treating us. It has a great washroom too. |
| Nicole: Anyway, it's about time for our vocab section. |
| Matt: Which is all about time! |
| Nicole: That's right. Let's start. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Nicole: 夜晚(je6 maan5) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Night. |
| Nicole: 夜晚(je6 maan5) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 夜晚(je6 maan5) [natural native speed]. 白日(baak6 jat6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Day. |
| Nicole: 白日(baak6 jat6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 白日(baak6 jat6) [natural native speed]. 今晚(gam1 maan1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Tonight. |
| Nicole: 今晚(gam1 maan1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 今晚(gam1 maan1) [natural native speed]. 聽晚(ting1 maan1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Tomorrow night. |
| Nicole: 聽晚(ting1 maan1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 聽晚(ting1 maan1) [natural native speed]. 尋晚 (cam4 maan5)[natural native speed] |
| Matt: Last night. |
| Nicole: 尋晚(cam4 maan5) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 尋晚(cam4 maan5) [natural native speed]. 今日(gam1 jat6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Today. |
| Nicole: 今日(gam1 jat6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 今日(gam1 jat6) [natural native speed]. 聽日(ting1 jat6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Tomorrow. |
| Nicole: 聽日(ting1 jat6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 聽日(ting1 jat6) [natural native speed]. 尋日(cam4 jat6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Yesterday. |
| Nicole: 尋日(cam4 jat6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 尋日(cam4 jat6) [natural native speed]. 酒吧(zau2 baa1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Bar. |
| Nicole: 酒吧(zau2 baa1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 酒吧(zau2 baa1) [natural native speed]. 我請(ngo5 ceng2) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: My treat. |
| Nicole: 我請(ngo5 ceng2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 我請(ngo5 ceng2) [natural native speed]. 一定(jat1 ding6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: Definitely. |
| Nicole: 一定(jat1 ding6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 一定(jat1 ding6) [natural native speed]. 到(dou3) [natural native speed] |
| Matt: To arrive. |
| Nicole: 到(dou3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 到(dou3) [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Matt: Wow, a lot of vocabulary today, Nicole. |
| Nicole: Yeah. |
| Matt: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of these words and phrases from today's lesson. |
| Nicole: All right. The first one is 今晚 (gam1 maan1) |
| Matt: This means tonight. |
| Nicole: 今晚 (gam1 maan1) |
| Matt: Literally, it's "today night." |
| Nicole: Right. This is a shorter way of saying 今日夜晚 (gam1 jat6 je6 maan5) |
| Matt: Which is "today at night." |
| Nicole: 今日夜晚(gam1 jat6 je6 maan5)... 今晚(gam1 maan1). |
| Matt: And that's what we heard in the dialogue. Want to go to a bar tonight? |
| Nicole: 今晚去酒吧飲酒?(gam1 maan1 heoi3 zau2 baa1 jam2 zau2?) |
| Matt: But it's hard to invite someone out tonight because they don't really have time to prepare. |
| Nicole: Yeah, it's sort of last minute. |
| Matt: So how do we say tomorrow night? |
| Nicole: 聽晚 (ting1 maan1) |
| Matt: Tomorrow night. |
| Nicole: 聽晚(ting1 maan1) |
| Matt: And again this also is a contraction. |
| Nicole: Right. It is 聽日夜晚 (ting1 jat6 je6 maan5.) |
| Matt: Literally, tomorrow. |
| Nicole: 聽日 (ting1 jat6.) |
| Matt: Evening. |
| Nicole: 夜晚(je6 maan5). So 聽日夜晚 (ting1 jat6 je6 maan5), is 聽晚(ting1 maan5)[*or ting1 maan1] |
| Matt: So how do we ask someone out tomorrow night? |
| Nicole: 聽晚去酒吧飲酒?(gam1 maan1 heoi3 zau2 baa1 jam2 zau2?) |
| Matt: Do you have time tomorrow night? |
| Nicole: 聽晚得唔得閒呀?(ting1 maan1 dak1 m4 dak1 haan4 aa3?) |
| Matt: And of course, remember this word. |
| Nicole: 我請 (ngo5 ceng2) |
| Matt: If they seem reluctant, make sure you tell them "Hey, my treat." |
| Nicole: 我請 (ngo5 ceng2) |
| Matt: It's my treat! |
| Nicole: 我請 (ngo5 ceng2) |
| Matt: Is it polite to buy drinks for people in Hong Kong? |
| Nicole: Of course it is! |
| Matt: So we should tell you that you're very polite, Nicole since you're treating us all to drinks at Victoria tonight. So if you meet someone, you can say "Would you like a drink? My treat." |
| Nicole: 想唔想飲酒，我請 (soeng2 m4 soeng2 jam2 zau2, ngo5 ceng2.) |
| Matt: In some parts of the US, people expect to buy their own drinks when they go out. |
| Nicole: Well, it's no problem in Hong Kong. Just say 想唔想飲酒，我請 (soeng2 m4 soeng2 jam2 zau2, ngo5 ceng2.) |
| Matt: Would you like a drink, my treat? |
| Nicole: Right. |
| Matt: Or we can order specific drinks. |
| Nicole: Right. 兩支啤酒，我請 (loeng5 zi1 be1 zau2, ngo5 ceng2). |
| Matt: Two bottles of beer, my treat! |
| Nicole: 兩杯威士忌，我請 (loeng5 bui1 wai1 si6 gei2, ngo5 ceng2). |
| Matt: Two glasses of whiskey, my treat! |
| Nicole: That's right. And whiskey here is 威士忌(wai1 si6 gei2), sounds quite similar to the English word. |
| Matt: You're right, it does. Now what should we say if someone buys us a drink? |
| Nicole: You either say 唔該 (m4 goi1.) |
| Matt: Thank you. |
| Nicole: Or you can say 正!(zeng3 !) |
| Matt: "Great!” |
Lesson focus |
| Nicole: Now, let's move on to our grammar section. |
| Matt: All right, Nicole. I'm a little sad. |
| Nicole: Why? |
| Matt: Well because this is our last grammar point in our first Absolute Beginner series. |
| Nicole: So you can treat us drinks and that will make you happy and us happy. |
| Matt: I think that will make me even more sad. I'm sad because all of our listeners are graduating to the next level of Cantonese. But I'm also happy for them. |
| Nicole: Me too. |
| Matt: So let's get right into this one. The last grammar point… |
| Nicole: …and it's a good one. |
| Matt: Right. In the dialogue we heard this line. |
| Nicole: 今晚去酒吧飲酒？(gam1 maan1 heoi3 zau2 baa1 jam2 zau2?) |
| Matt: Do you want to do to a bar tonight to drink? |
| Nicole: 今晚去酒吧飲酒？(gam1 maan1 heoi3 zau2 baa1 jam2 zau2?) |
| Matt: What's new here is our time word that we've added in. |
| Nicole: 今晚(gam1 maan1) |
| Matt: Tonight. |
| Nicole: 今晚去酒吧飲酒？(gam1 maan1 heoi3 zau2 baa1 jam2 zau2?) |
| Matt: And our grammar point is very easy. It's where to put time words in sentences. |
| Nicole: Very easy. Just stick them at the beginning of the sentence. |
| Matt: Easy enough, just drop it in there. |
| Nicole: Right. Like 我而家口渴 (ngo5 ji4 gaa1 hau2 hot3). |
| Matt: I am thirsty right now. |
| Nicole: 我而家口渴 (ngo5 ji4 gaa1 hau2 hot3.) |
| Matt: I am thirsty right now. |
| Nicole: Or 你今日忙唔忙?(nei5 gam1 jat6 mong4 m4 mong4?) |
| Matt: Are you busy today? |
| Nicole: Right 你今日忙唔忙?(nei5 gam1 jat6 mong4 m4 mong4?) |
| Matt: Now, technically, we can put time words either before or after our subject. |
| Nicole: That's right. |
| Matt: In our dialogue, our subject was implied. It was "we." |
| Nicole: 我哋(ngo5 dei6). 我哋今晚去酒吧飲酒？(ngo5 dei6 gam1 maan1 heoi3 zau2 baa1 jam2 zau2?) |
| Matt: We could also say? |
| Nicole: 今晚我哋去酒吧飲酒？(gam1 maan1 ngo5 dei6 heoi3 zau2 baa1 jam2 zau2?) |
| Matt: So all we did is reverse the position of the subject and the time word and both will work. |
| Nicole: That's right. |
| Matt: So let's practice making some sentences with time words, Nicole. |
| Nicole: Okay. |
| Matt: And let's make this a game. First Nicole is going to say a sentence. We want you to try to translate it out loud before I do. |
| Nicole: 我夜晚去酒吧。(ngo5 je6 maan5 heoi3 zau2 baa1) |
| Matt: I go to bars at night. |
| Nicole: 我夜晚去酒吧。(ngo5 je6 maan5 heoi3 zau2 baa1) |
| Matt: I go to bars at night. And the time word here is night. |
| Nicole: 夜晚(je6 maan5). Next one, 佢白日做嘢。(keoi5 baak6 jat6 zou6 je5.) |
| Matt: He works in the day. |
| Nicole: 佢白日做嘢 (keoi5 baak6 jat6 zou6 je5). |
| Matt: He works in the day. And the time word is day. |
| Nicole: 白日(baak6 jat6) One more. 我尋晚去咗 (ngo5 cam4 maan5 heoi3 zo2) |
| Matt: I went out last night. |
| Nicole: 我尋晚去咗。(ngo5 cam4 maan5 heoi3 zo2.) |
| Matt: I went out last night. And the time word here is last night. |
| Nicole: 尋晚 (cam4 maan5) |
| Matt: Just remember to put your time word at the beginning of the sentence. |
| Nicole: Either before or after the subject. |
| Matt: And that's it. |
| Nicole: Easy. |
| Matt: And that brings us to the end of our first season of lessons for Absolute Beginners to Cantonese. |
| Nicole: You do sound sad. |
| Matt: I'm going to cry. |
| Nicole: So keep listening and soon you'll be at the elementary level. |
| Matt: Remember to get your hands on the PDFs and other tools. |
| Nicole: At CantoneseClass101.com. |
| Matt: And that just about does it for today. Remember, you can always leave us a comment on this lesson. |
| Nicole: So if you have a question or some feedback, please, please leave us a comment! |
| Matt: It's very easy to do. Just stop by CantoneseClass101.com, |
| Nicole: ...click on comment, |
| Matt: ...enter your comment and name, |
| Nicole: ...and that's it! |
| Matt: No excuses. We're looking forward to hearing from you! |
| Nicole: Thank you for tuning in. I'm Nicole. |
| Matt: And I'm Matt. Bon voyage. |
| Nicole: Bye-bye. |
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