Learn Cantonese numbers greater than one hundred, including years
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Matt: Welcome back to Basic Boot Camp! I’m Matt. |
| Nicole: And I’m Nicole. |
| Matt: This five-part series will help you ease your way into Cantonese. |
| Nicole: We'll go over all the basics that will really help you understand Cantonese much quicker and easier. |
| Matt: In this lesson, we’ll continue on with more of the essentials of Cantonese numbers. In this lesson, we will venture into higher number territory…the over one hundreds to the ten thousands. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 一百，二百（兩百），四百七十，六百七十一，一千，三千五百九十，七千八百八十，一萬 |
| (jat1 baak3, ji6 baak3 (loeng5 baak3), sei3 baak3 cat1 sap6, luk6 baak3 cat1 sap6 jat1, jat1 cin1, saam1 cin1 ng5 baak3 gau2 sap6, cat1 cin1 baat3 baak3 baat3 sap6, jat1 maan6) |
| 100, 200, 470, 671, 1000, 3590, 7880, 10000 |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Matt Let's go over the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Nicole 一百 (jat1 baak3) [natural native speed] |
| Matt one hundred (100) |
| Nicole 一百 (jat1 baak3) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole 一百 (jat1 baak3) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole 二百 (ji6 baak3) [natural native speed] |
| Matt two hundred (200) |
| Nicole 二百 (ji6 baak3) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole 二百 (ji6 baak3) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole 兩百 (loeng5 baak3) [natural native speed] |
| Matt two hundred (200) |
| Nicole 兩百 (loeng5 baak3) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole 兩百 (loeng5 baak3) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole 四百七十 (sei3 baak3 cat1 sap6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt 470 |
| Nicole 四百七十 (sei3 baak3 cat1 sap6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole 四百七十 (sei3 baak3 cat1 sap6) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole 六百七十一 (luk6 baak3 cat1 sap6 jat1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt 671 |
| Nicole 六百七十一 (luk6 baak3 cat1 sap6 jat1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole 六百七十一 (luk6 baak3 cat1 sap6 jat1) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole 一千 (jat1 cin1) [natural native speed] |
| Matt one thousand (1,000) |
| Nicole 一千 (jat1 cin1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole 一千 (jat1 cin1) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole 三千五百九十 (saam1 cin1 ng5 baak3 gau2 sap6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt 3590 |
| Nicole 三千五百九十 (saam1 cin1 ng5 baak3 gau2 sap6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole 三千五百九十 (saam1 cin1 ng5 baak3 gau2 sap6) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole 七千八百八十 (cat1 cin1 baat3 baak3 baat3 sap6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt 7880 |
| Nicole 七千八百八十 (cat1 cin1 baat3 baak3 baat3 sap6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole 七千八百八十 (cat1 cin1 baat3 baak3 baat3 sap6) [natural native speed] |
| Nicole 一萬 (jat1 maan6) [natural native speed] |
| Matt ten thousand (10,000) |
| Nicole 一萬 (jat1 maan6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole 一萬 (jat1 maan6) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Matt: So, in our previous boot camp about numbers, we learned that "eleven" in Cantonese is 十一 (sap6 jat1) "ten, one." "Twelve" is 十二 (sap6 ji6) "ten, two," and so on. "Twenty" is 二十 (ji6 sap6) "two, ten," "twenty-one" is 二十一 (ji6 sap6 jat1) "two, ten, one" (2*10 + 1), and so on, all the way up to ninety-nine. "One-hundred" is 一百 (jat1 baak3) . So now how do we start forming numbers over one hundred? |
| Nicole: Well, a lot of it is the same principle. |
| Matt: So "One-hundred and one" would be... |
| Nicole: 一百零一 (jat1 baak3 ling4 jat1). |
| Matt: Can you break that down for us? |
| Nicole: 一百 (jat1 baak3) "one hundred", 零 (ling4) is "zero", 一 (jat1) is "one." |
| Matt: Okay, what if it was "111?" |
| Nicole: Well, remember for "eleven" we only had to say "ten one" 十一 (sap6 jat1). Well, in the higher numbers, you actually need to do it a little different. |
| Matt: So "eleven" is... |
| Nicole: 十一 (sap6 jat1). |
| Matt: But when used in "111?" |
| Nicole: You have to add in an extra “one” 一 (jat1) that you don't with the eleven. Listen. 一百一十一 (jat1 baak3 jat1 sap6 jat1). |
| Matt: So, like "100" ("one, ten, one"). NOT "100, ten, one." |
| Nicole: Yes, that is a special point about the numbers. |
| Matt: A number glitch. |
| Nicole: Right, in the larger numbers, you must add the extra "one" when reading them out. |
| Matt: Now we move on to read numbers one thousand and above. It is done in a similar fashion. First, Nicole, give us the word for "thousands." |
| Nicole: 千 (cin1). |
| Matt: So, "one thousand?" |
| Nicole: 一千 (jat1 cin1). |
| Matt: "Four thousand?" |
| Nicole: 四千 (sei3 cin1). |
| Matt: Good, so literally "4, 1000." So let’s ramp it up a bit. What about a number over one thousand that is a bit more of a mixed bag. Let’s try a random "fifteen hundred and ninety." |
| Nicole: That would be 一千五百九十 (jat1 cin1 ng5 baak3 gau2 sap6). |
| Matt: Okay, so that translated is literally, "1 thousand, 5 hundreds, 9 tens." |
| Nicole: Yes, 一千五百九十 (jat1 cin1 ng5 baak3 gau2 sap6). |
| Matt: So the formula with numbers in the thousands place is, first, you say how many thousands you have, then how many hundreds, then tens, then ones. |
| Nicole: Let’s try another. |
| Matt: Okay, "2,463." |
| Nicole: So, here we have 二千四百六十三 (ji6 cin1 sei3 baak3 luk6 sap6 saam1); or 兩千四百六十三 (loeng5 cin1 sei3 baak3 luk6 sap6 saam1). |
| Matt: Literally, "2 thousand, 4 hundred, six ten three, or sixty-three." But wait a second, you gave us two examples of the number 2. I heard you say 兩 (loeng5) instead of 二 (ji6) for "two." What is with that? |
| Nicole: Ah yes, here comes another little 'number glitch' in Cantonese. |
| Matt: Yes, there are two words for "two." |
| Nicole: In Cantonese, the multiplier 兩 (loeng5) is used rather than 二 (ji6) for all numbers greater than two hundred with the "two" numeral. Use of both 兩 (loeng5) or 二 (ji6) are acceptable for the number "two hundred." |
| Matt: And okay, let's just get all the glitches out in the open now. There is a little hitch for when you have a number with zeros in it as well. |
| Nicole: When a zero occurs in the number (except at the end), you need to read in a "zero," or 零 (ling4) in Cantonese. |
| Matt: But if there are two or more zeros, you only have to say it once. So can you give us an example? |
| Nicole: Well, say, "1,001" would be "one thousand zero one." |
| Matt: So in Cantonese, that would be… |
| Nicole: 一千零一 (jat1 cin1 ling4 jat1). |
| Matt: So you only have to say the zero once, noted. |
| Nicole: Yep, the one zero stands in for the hundreds and tens places. |
| Matt: How about something like "2,093"? |
| Nicole: 二千零九十三 (ji6 cin1 ling4 gau2 sap6 saam1). |
| Matt: Let’s have another thousand word, Nicole. |
| Nicole: Sure, how about "8,888." |
| Matt: Such a lucky number! |
| Nicole: So that would be 八千八百八十八 (baat3 cin1 baat3 baak3 baat3 sap6 baat3). |
| Matt: So in equivalent English…"eight thousand eight hundred eight ten eight." How about when they say the year in Cantonese, like "2010." How do they say that? |
| Nicole: Ah, that's different. They will generally just read out the numbers, 二零一零 (ji6 ling4 jat1 ling4), as in "2010 (two-zero-one-zero)". |
| Matt: Okay, that’s good to know. |
| Nicole: Now we move up to the ten thousands. |
| Matt: What is different from English is that when you get to "ten-thousand," Cantonese has its own word for that number place. |
| Nicole: Yes, 萬 (maan6). Therefore, we don’t say 十千 (sap6 cin1); we actually say one-萬 (maan6). Or, more correctly, 一萬 (jat1 maan6). |
| Matt: So "ten thousand" is... |
| Nicole: 一萬 (jat1 maan6). |
Outro |
|---|
| Matt: Okay. I think that's a lot of numbers for one day. |
| Nicole: I am more than satisfied with my number quota of the day. |
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| Nicole: Thanks for listening! |
| Matt: Bye! |
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