Review common polite phrases, which can help you anywhere you go in China
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| David : Welcome to CantoneseClass101.com. I’m David. |
| Nicole : 大家好, 我係 (daai6 gaa1 hou2 , ngo5 hai6) Nicole. |
| David : And we’re here with Absolute Beginner, Season 2, Lesson 12. |
| Nicole : “Jammed in Hong Kong.” |
| David : Right. It’s about a traffic jam. |
| Nicole : It happens a lot. |
| David : It does happen a lot. Especially if you need to cross over to the island from the mainland. |
| Nicole : Yeah. |
| David : Going through the bridge. So, we’ve got a dialogue that takes place at work. |
| Nicole : And it’s between colleagues. |
| David : Right, so they’re speaking casual Cantonese as always. |
| Nicole : That’s right. |
| David : Now, in the dialogue we’re going to learn why is someone’s late. Before we get there though, we want to remind you. We’re getting a bit more difficult. |
| Nicole : Yeah, we are. |
| David : So, one of the really useful ways to keep up with us is getting your hands on those PDF transcripts. |
| Nicole : Yeah. |
| David : We’ve mentioned it before, we’ll mention it again, they’re on the website CantoneseClass101.com. |
| Nicole : In the premium learning center. |
| David : Right. You can download them and review the stuff right away. That said, let’s get to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: 唔好意思我遲到。 (m4 hou2 ji3 si1 ngo5 ci4 dou3.) |
| B: 唔緊要。(m4 gan2 jiu3.) |
| A: 塞車。真係對唔住。(sak1 ce1. zan1 hai6 deoi3 m4 zyu6.) |
| B: 唔緊要，我明。(m4 gan2 jiu3, ngo5 ming4.) |
| A: Sorry I'm late. |
| B: It's okay. |
| A: There was a traffic jam. I'm really sorry. |
| B: It's okay, I understand. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David : What an understanding boss! |
| Nicole : No, it’s between colleagues. |
| David : Okay. So, Oh, you were late too! That’s okay. No problem. So we’ve got a vocab section which is going to be useful for you if you like us, always arrive late or early. |
| Nicole : Yeah, we’ll provide you with excuses. |
| David : Yes. |
| Nicole : For being late. |
| David : Let’s get to that. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Nicole : 遲到。 (ci4 dou3.) |
| David : “To arrive late”. |
| Nicole : 遲到, 遲到, 早到。(ci4 dou3, ci4 dou3, zou2 dou3.) |
| David : “To arrive early”. |
| Nicole : 早到, 早到, 塞車。(zou2 dou3, zou2 dou3, sak1 ce1.) |
| David : “Traffic jam”. |
| Nicole : 塞車, 塞車, 瞓過籠。(sak1 ce1, sak1 ce1, fan3 gwo3 lung4.) |
| David : “To oversleep”. |
| Nicole : 瞓過 籠, 瞓過籠, 真係。(fan3 gwo3 lung4, fan3 gwo3 lung4, zan1 hai6.) |
| David : “Really”. |
| Nicole : 真係, 真係, 唔緊要。 (zan1 hai6, zan1 hai6, m4 gan2 jiu3.) |
| David : “It’s okay”. |
| Nicole : 唔緊要, 唔緊要, 明。(m4 gan2 jiu3, m4 gan2 jiu3, ming4.) |
| David : “To understand”. |
| Nicole : 明, 明。(ming4, ming4.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David : So all of our vocab section today is about arriving late and arriving early. |
| Nicole : Yeah. |
| David : Yeah. Those were actually your first two words. “To arrive late”. |
| Nicole : 遲到。 (ci4 dou3.) |
| David : “To arrive late”. |
| Nicole : 遲到。(ci4 dou3.) |
| David : What are the tones on that? |
| Nicole : 遲 (ci4) is the lowest tone, [unintelligible 00:03:04] tone, flat low. 遲. (ci4.) |
| David : And then? |
| Nicole : 到 (dou3) is a middle level flat tone. 到.(dou3.) |
| David : So low flat, mid flat. |
| Nicole : 遲到。(ci4 dou3.) |
| David : So when you’re late you can say “Sorry, I’m late”. |
| Nicole : 唔好意思我遲到。(m4 hou2 ji3 si1 ngo5 ci4 dou3.) |
| David : “Sorry, I’m late”. |
| Nicole : 唔好意思我遲到。 (m4 hou2 ji3 si1 ngo5 ci4 dou3.) |
| David : Our next word is “to arrive early”. |
| Nicole : 早到。 (zou2 dou3.) |
| David : To arrive early. |
| Nicole : 早到。(zou2 dou3.) |
| David : And what are the tones on that? |
| Nicole : 早到 (zou2 dou3) is a high rising tone, 早 (zou2) and it’s followed by 到 (dou3), midlevel flat tone. |
| David : Right. |
| Nicole : 早到 (zou2 dou3), “to arrive early”. |
| David : Yeah. Now before the podcast, I said “You might want to say sorry, I’ve arrived early.” |
| Nicole : 唔好意思我早到。(m4 hou2 ji3 si1 ngo5 zou2 dou3.) |
| David : And Nicole, you’d never say that. |
| Nicole : Yeah, it never happens. |
| David : So, everyone in Hong Kong is always busy and running late. |
| Nicole : I would assume so, at least we’re punctual. |
| David : Yeah. But if you show up at a party, say, you show up too early you can say “Sorry, I’m early”. |
| Nicole : 唔好意思我早到。(m4 hou2 ji3 si1 ngo5 zou2 dou3.) |
| David : Right. |
| Nicole : And they’ll probably say “Go away!” |
| David : “Go away! Come back later!” Yeah. Well, the third excuse you’ll probably don’t want to give which is “to oversleep”. |
| Nicole : 瞓過籠。(fan3 gwo3 lung4.) |
| David : “To oversleep”. |
| Nicole : 瞓過籠。(fan3 gwo3 lung4.) |
| David : It’s a real cause of tardiness. |
| Nicole : Yeah. |
| David : So, you can always say “Sorry, I overslept”. |
| Nicole : 唔好意思我瞓過籠。(m4 hou2 ji3 si1 ngo5 fan3 gwo3 lung4.) |
| David : And we hope it honestly keeps you from being fired. |
| Nicole : Yeah, let’s hope so. |
| David : Yeah. So, three really, really critical pieces of vocab today. First, “to arrive late”. |
| Nicole : 遲到。(ci4 dou3.) |
| David : Second, “to arrive early”. |
| Nicole : 早到。(zou2 dou3.) |
| David : And third, “to oversleep”. |
| Nicole : 瞓過籠。 (fan3 gwo3 lung4.) |
| David : “Sorry, I’m late.” |
| Nicole : 唔好意思我遲到。(m4 hou2 ji3 si1 ngo5 ci4 dou3.) |
| David : “Sorry, I’m early.” |
| Nicole : 對唔住, 我早到。(deoi3 m4 zyu6, ngo5 zou2 dou3.) |
| David : “Sorry, I overslept.” |
| Nicole : 對唔住, 我瞓過籠。 (deoi3 m4 zyu6 , ngo5 fan3 gwo3 lung4.) |
| David : Since this lesson is all about being polite, in our grammar section today we’re going to review some really polite words and phrases. |
| Nicole : That’s right. |
| David : Let’s get to it. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David : It’s grammar time! In our grammar section today, we’re going to review a lot of really common words and phrases. |
| Nicole : That’s right. Starting with 對唔住. (deoi3 m4 zyu6.) |
| David : “Sorry”. |
| Nicole : 對唔住。 (deoi3 m4 zyu6.) |
| David : “Sorry”. We also have? |
| Nicole : 唔好意思 (m4 hou2 ji3 si1) |
| David : “Excuse me”. |
| Nicole : 唔好意思。 (m4 hou2 ji3 si1.) |
| David : “Excuse me”. |
| Nicole : That could be “sorry”, too. |
| David : Yeah, depends on the situation. |
| Nicole : Yeah. |
| David : Next, is “thank you”. |
| Nicole : 唔該。 (m4 goi1.) |
| David : “Thank you”. |
| Nicole : 唔該。(m4 goi1.) |
| David : And we’ve got two more. |
| Nicole : 唔使客氣。(m4 sai2 haak3 hei3.) |
| David : “You’re welcome”. |
| Nicole : 唔使客氣。 (m4 sai2 haak3 hei3.) |
| David : “You’re welcome”. |
| Nicole : 唔緊要。(m4 gan2 jiu3.) |
| David : “It’s okay”. |
| Nicole : 唔緊要。(m4 gan2 jiu3.) |
| David : “It’s okay”. So these are all platitudes. |
| Nicole : Yeah. |
| David : You know, by now we know them and we’re used toss them out, but sometimes you really mean it. You’re really sorry. |
| Nicole : Yeah. |
| David : Or you do really want to say “excuse me” and in our dialogue, we learned how to take these and really turn them up a notch. Listen to this line from the dialogue. |
| Nicole : 真係對唔住。 (zan1 hai6 deoi3 m4 zyu6.) |
| David : That’s “I’m really sorry”. |
| Nicole : 真係對唔住。 (zan1 hai6 deoi3 m4 zyu6.) |
| David : Literally “Really, I’m sorry.” |
| Nicole : 真係對唔住。(zan1 hai6 deoi3 m4 zyu6.) |
| David : How are we saying “really”, here? |
| Nicole : 真係。 (zan1 hai6.) |
| David : “Really”. |
| Nicole : 真係。 (zan1 hai6.) |
| David : And we can put anything after that. |
| Nicole : Yeah. |
| David : Let’s practice this with these polite phrases we’ve just covered. |
| Nicole : Okay. |
| David : First. “I’m really sorry.” |
| Nicole : 真係對唔住。 (zan1 hai6 deoi3 m4 zyu6.) |
| David : “I’m really sorry.” |
| Nicole : 真係對唔住。 (zan1 hai6 deoi3 m4 zyu6.) |
| David : Next, you could say “Really, excuse me.” |
| Nicole : 真係唔好意思。 (zan1 hai6 m4 hou2 ji3 si1.) |
| David : Now it really means “I’m sorry”, too. |
| Nicole : Yeah. 真係唔好意思。 (zan1 hai6 m4 hou2 ji3 si1.) |
| David : “Thank you” is? |
| Nicole : 唔該。 (m4 goi1.) |
| David : So you could say “Really, thanks”. |
| Nicole : 真係唔該晒！(zan1 hai6 m4 goi1 saai3!) |
| David : “Really, thanks”. |
| Nicole : 真係唔該晒！ (zan1 hai6 m4 goi1 saai3!) You notice the 晒 (saai3) in the end, because 唔該晒 (m4 goi1 saai3) means “thank you” as well. |
| David : Yeah. |
| Nicole : And we’ve learned another way of saying thank you. That’s 多謝. (do1 ze6.) |
| David : Yeah. |
| Nicole : It’s more formal and polite. |
| David : It’s more formal. |
| Nicole : Yeah. |
| David : If you’re using it in stores you should say this instead. |
| Nicole : 多謝。(do1 ze6.) |
| David : Now, someone would probably answer? |
| Nicole : 唔使客氣。 (m4 sai2 haak3 hei3.) |
| David : Which means “You’re welcome”. |
| Nicole : 唔使客氣。 (m4 sai2 haak3 hei3.) |
| David : But if they really, really mean it, they can also say. |
| Nicole : 真係唔使客氣。 (zan1 hai6 m4 sai2 haak3 hei3.) |
| David : “You’re really welcome.” |
| Nicole : 真係唔使客氣。 (zan1 hai6 m4 sai2 haak3 hei3.) |
| David : Our last plate phrase was? |
| Nicole : 唔緊要。 (m4 gan2 jiu3.) |
| David : “It’s okay.” |
| Nicole : 唔緊要。 (m4 gan2 jiu3.) |
| David : To add really to this, say. |
| Nicole : 真係唔緊要。 (zan1 hai6 m4 gan2 jiu3.) |
| David : “It’s really okay”. |
| Nicole : 真係唔緊要。 (zan1 hai6 m4 gan2 jiu3.) |
| David : Right. So, in this lesson, we’ve covered a really simple way to take plate phrases and turn them up a notch, add... |
| Nicole : 真係 (zan1 hai6) |
| David: ...at the very beginning. |
Outro |
| David: So, that’s our lesson for today. Before we go, we want to remind you: in this lesson, we touched on a couple of those tones in the vocab section. Normally, we don’t. One of the reasons that we don’t is all the stuff is in the PDF. |
| Nicole : That’s right. |
| David : So if you’re ever listening and wonder what tone is that, just download the PDF and check it and you’ll know in a couple of seconds. With that though, our time is up for today. I’m David. |
| Nicole : 我係 (ngo5 hai6) Nicole. |
| David : Thanks a lot for listening, and we’ll see you on the site. |
| Nicole : See you! |
| David : Bye-bye. |
Comments
Hide