Learn the top 25 Cantonese nouns
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| Hi! Welcome to Cantonese Top Words! I’m Olivia. And today we’re going to talk about Top 25 Nouns. So here we go! |
| 1. 人 (jan4) "person" |
| 人 (jan4) is human, people, person. Like you and I, we’re all 人 (jan4). |
| 2. 男人 (naam4 jan2) "man" |
| 男人 (naam4 jan2) is “man” or “male”. It’s actually the word for male 男 (naam4), combined with the word for “people” 人 (jan4). So 男人 (naam4 jan2) is “man”. |
| 3. 女人 (neoi5 jan2) "woman" |
| 女人 (neoi5 jan2) “female or women”. So people or person is 人 (jan4), and a “woman” is 女人 (neoi5 jan2). |
| 4. 水 (seoi2) "water" |
| That’s something that all of us would need, right? "water” 水 (seoi2) . |
| 好口渴，我想飲水。 (hou2 hau2 hot3, ngo5 soeng2 jam2 seoi2.) "I'm so thirsty I want some water." |
| 5. 飯 (faan6) "rice (cooked)" |
| 飯 (faan6) is literally “rice”, but we can also refer it to “meals”, because in China we eat rice for every meal. |
| Like, 炒飯 (cau2 faan6) "fried rice" |
| "fried” 炒 (cau2), and 飯 (faan6) “rice”. |
| 炒飯 (cau2 faan6) "fried rice" |
| Do you like eating rice? |
| 6. 咖啡 (gaa3 fe1) "coffee" |
| It kinda sound like “coffee”, right? 咖啡 (gaa3 fe1). |
| 7. 茶 (caa4) "tea" |
| So ”Coffee or tea?" 咖啡定茶？ (gaa3 fe1 ding6 caa4?) |
| 咖啡/茶 (gaa3 fe1 / caa4) |
| 咖啡定茶？ (gaa3 fe1 ding6 caa4?) |
| I like both, actually in Hong Kong they have a special drink, which is a combination of coffee and tea and milk, it’s called 鴛鴦 (jin1 joeng1), try it if you have time. |
| 8. 牛肉 (ngau4 juk6) "beef" |
| Literally “cow meat”, so 肉 (juk6) is “meat”, and 牛 (ngau4) is “cow”. So “cow meat” 牛肉 (ngau4 juk6). |
| 9. 豬肉 (zyu1 juk6) "pork" |
| Here we hear the “meat” again, that is pork. 豬 (zyu1) is “pig”, so 豬肉 (zyu1 juk6) is ”pork”, the pig meat, 豬肉 (zyu1 juk6). |
| 10. 雞肉 (gai1 juk6) "chicken (meat)" |
| 雞 (gai1) is “chicken”, so chicken meat, 雞肉 (gai1 juk6), it’s what we eat. |
| 11. 酒店 (zau2 dim3) "hotel" |
| 酒店 (zau2 dim3) are “hotels”, we stay at the hotel when we travel, right? |
| And now when you go to Hong Kong and you need to look for a hotel, you can ask people 酒店喺邊呀？ (zau2 dim3 hai2 bin1 aa3?) "Where is the hotel?" |
| 12. 餐廳 (caan1 teng1) "restaurant" |
| 餐廳 (caan1 teng1) is ”restaurant”, restaurant is where we go to eat, and in Hong Kong there’re a lot of restaurants. If you want to go to, say, an Indian restaurant and you want to ask someone "Where is the closest Indian restaurant?" you say 最近嘅印度餐廳喺邊？ (zeoi3 kan5 ge3 jan3 dou6 caan1 teng1 hai2 bin1?) |
| Or just say 印度餐廳 (jan3 dou6 caan1 teng1), it’s “Indian restaurant”. |
| 13. 機場 (gei1 coeng4) "airport" |
| The airport is around 20 minutes away from city with the Airport Express, it’s very convenient to get to and from the airport. |
| 去機場搭飛機 (heoi3 gei1 coeng4 daap3 fei1 gei1) |
| 飛機 (fei1 gei1) is “airplane” |
| 去機場搭飛機 (heoi3 gei1 coeng4 daap3 fei1 gei1) "go to the airport to take a flight,” to take the airplane, to take a flight" |
| 14. 洗手間 (sai2 sau2 gaan1) "washroom/bathroom“ |
| Literally, 洗手(sai2 sau2) is “to wash hands”, 洗(sai2) is “wash”, 手 (sau2) is “hand”, 間 (gaan1) is the “room”. So 洗手間 (sai2 sau2 gaan1) is where we wash our hands, washroom. |
| 洗手間喺邊呀？ (sai2 sau2 gaan1 hai2 bin1 aa3?) "Where is the washroom?" |
| 15. 廁所 (ci3 so2) "toilet" |
| It’s a more colloquial way to say “washroom”, so you can either use 洗手間 (sai2 sau2 gaan1) or 廁所 (ci3 so2) and people would still understand that you’re looking for the “washroom”. |
| 佢去咗廁所。 (keoi5 heoi3 zo2 ci3 so2.) “(He’s not here) He went to the bathroom." |
| 16. 廁紙 (ci3 zi2) "toilet paper" |
| It’s a very important item. So we take the first word (from “toilet”) 廁(ci3) and add “paper” 紙 (zi2) behind it, so 廁紙 (ci3 zi2) "toilet paper" |
| 冇晒廁紙呀！點算呀？ (mou5 saai3 ci3 zi2 aa3! dim2 syun3 aa3?) "All the toilet paper is gone! What should we do?" |
| Oh no! |
| 17. 地鐵 (dei6 tit3) "metro/subway” |
| It’s a very common transportation in Hong Kong, 地鐵 (dei6 tit3). In Hong Kong the subway is called MTR, for Mass Transit Railway. So it’s very convenient and it’s usually the fastest way to get around Hong Kong. |
| 地鐵好迫呀。 (dei6 tit3 hou2 bik1 aa3.) "It's very crowded in the subway." |
| Yeah, usually that happens during rush hour, so be careful. |
| 18. 的士 (dik1 si2) "taxi" |
| It sounds similar, it’s actually a loan word from English’s taxi, 的士 (dik1 si2). |
| 喂！的士！ (wai3! dik1 si2!) "Hey! Taxi!" |
| That’s how you can call a taxi on the street, there’re a lot of taxis around Hong Kong. |
| 19. 車 (ce1) "car" |
| A "car" or “vehicle”, 車 (ce1). |
| "Do you know how to drive a car?" 你識唔識揸車呀？ (nei5 sik1 m4 sik1 zaa1 ce1 aa3?) |
| 20. 屋企 (uk1 kei5) "home/house” |
| 我返屋企喇。 (ngo5 faan1 uk1 kei5 laa3.) "I'm going home." |
| 21. 書 (syu1) "book" |
| 我睇書。 (ngo5 tai2 syu1.) "I read books." |
| 22. 公司 (gung1 si1) “office/company" |
| 我公司喺中環。 (ngo5 gung1 si1 hai2 zung1 waan4.) "My office is in Central." |
| 23. 老板 (lou5 baan2) "boss" |
| 今日老板會嚟，你醒定啲呀！ (gam1 jat6 lou5 baan2 wui5 lei4, nei5 sing2 ding6 di1 aa3!) "The big boss is gonna come visit today, or The boss is coming to visit today, you better behave!" |
| 24. 警察 (ging2 caat3) "police" |
| If you need any help, there should be a lot of police around town, and you can ask for help. |
| 快啲叫警察呀！ (faai3 di1 giu3 ging2 caat3 aa3!) Call 999 to ask for the police, triple 9. |
| 25. 醫生 (ji1 sang1) "doctor" |
| If you ever fell sick in Hong Kong, you have to go see a doctor, |
| 要睇醫生 (tai2 ji1 sang1) "to go to see a doctor" |
| 睇醫生 (tai2 ji1 sang1). |
| So that’s all 25 common nouns in Cantonese, I hope you enjoyed it. If you want to check out more Cantonese videos, please subscribe. And I’ll see you next time in more Cantonese videos. Bye! |
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