Learn how to talk about the past tense
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to CantoneseClass101.com. I’m David. |
| Gimmy: 大家好, 我係 Gimmy。(daai6 gaa1 hou2, ngo5 hai6 Gimmy.) |
| David: And we’re here today with Beginner Season 1, Lesson 11. |
| Gimmy: Getting News in Hong Kong. |
| David: Right. So we’re going to talk about newspapers, in the internet, and television. |
| Gimmy: Many different ways to get news. |
| David: Yes. First though, we’ve got a dialogue for you. It features two people in a office talking about something that’s just happened or maybe hasn’t happened. |
| Gimmy: Let’s listen to it. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 喂，今日上咗網未呀？(wai3, gam1 jat6 soeng5 zo2 mong5 mei6 aa3?) |
| 未喎，有咩新聞？(mei6 wo3, jau5 me1 san1 man4?) |
| 冇呀，都係咁啦，你自己睇囉。(mou5 aa3, dou1 hai6 gam2 laa1, nei5 zi6 gei2 tai2 lo1.) |
| David: Once again, a bit slower. |
| 喂，今日上咗網未呀？(wai3, gam1 jat6 soeng5 zo2 mong5 mei6 aa3?) |
| 未喎，有咩新聞？(mei6 wo3, jau5 me1 san1 man4?) |
| 冇呀，都係咁啦，你自己睇囉。(mou5 aa3, dou1 hai6 gam2 laa1, nei5 zi6 gei2 tai2 lo1.) |
| David: And now, with the English translation. |
| 喂，今日上咗網未呀？(wai3, gam1 jat6 soeng5 zo2 mong5 mei6 aa3?) |
| A: Hey, have you been online today yet? |
| 未喎，有咩新聞？(mei6 wo3, jau5 me1 san1 man4?) |
| B: Not yet, any news? |
| 冇呀，都係咁啦，你自己睇囉。(mou5 aa3, dou1 hai6 gam2 laa1, nei5 zi6 gei2 tai2 lo1.) |
| A: None, nothing's changed. Take a look yourself. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: So this is a short dialogue. |
| Gimmy: But the lines are a bit longer. |
| David: Right. The vocab we want to talk about today includes more the words just in the dialogue though. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: We want to talk about news in general. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: So let’s get to our vocab list. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gimmy: 今日(gam1 jat6) [natural native speed] |
| David: Today |
| Gimmy: 今日(gam1 jat6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 今日 (gam1 jat6) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 上網 (soeng5 mong5) [natural native speed] |
| David: To go online. |
| Gimmy: 上網 (soeng5 mong5) [slowly - broken down by syllable].上網 (soeng5 mong5) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 自己 (zi6 gei2) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Oneself |
| Gimmy: 自己 (zi6 gei2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 自己 (zi6 gei2) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 新聞 (san1 man4) [natural native speed] |
| David: News |
| Gimmy: 新聞 (san1 man4) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 新聞 (san1 man4) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 報紙 (bou3 zi2) [natural native speed] |
| David: Newspaper |
| Gimmy: 報紙 (bou3 zi2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 報紙 (bou3 zi2) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 電視 (din6si6) [natural native speed] |
| David: Television |
| Gimmy: 電視 (din6si6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 電視 (din6si6) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 網絡 (mong5 lok6) [natural native speed] |
| David: Internet |
| Gimmy: 網絡 (mong5 lok6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 網絡 (mong5 lok6) [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| David: So our focus is obviously on places where you can get news. |
| Gimmy: Or the ways you can get news. |
| David: Yeah. And in Hong Kong, you’ve got everything, of course. The first word is obviously news. |
| Gimmy: 新聞. (san1 man4.) |
| David: News. |
| Gimmy: 新聞. (san1 man4.) |
| David: And this means something new that has been heard literally. |
| Gimmy: Yes. So the most common way to get news is, of course, to buy newspaper. |
| David: Right. And the word for newspaper is… |
| Gimmy: 報紙. (bou3 zi2.) |
| David: Newspaper. |
| Gimmy: 報紙. (bou3 zi2.) |
| David: So throughout Hong Kong, they’ve got a lot of little newspaper stores. |
| Gimmy: 報紙檔. (bou3 zi2 dong3.) |
| David: Which is kind of like a news stand of some kind. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: Yeah. And that’s literally what it means, a newspaper stand. |
| Gimmy: Right, 報紙檔. (bou3 zi2 dong3) |
| David: So if you’re looking for a newspaper, you can ask people “Where is a newspaper stand?” |
| Gimmy: 報紙檔喺邊？(bou3 zi2 dong3 hai2 bin1?) |
| David: “I want to buy a newspaper.” |
| Gimmy: 我想買報紙. (ngo5 soeng2 maai5 bou3 zi2.) |
| David: And Hong Kong is a cosmopolitan city, so it got both Chinese newspapers as well as international papers. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: You shouldn’t have a problem finding the news. In addition to newspapers, though, there’s also television news. |
| Gimmy: Yes, 電視新聞. (din6 si6 san1 man4.) |
| David: That’s two words combined into one. The first is television. |
| Gimmy: 電視. (din6 si6.) |
| David: Television. |
| Gimmy: 電視. (din6 si6.) |
| David: So that’s television. |
| Gimmy: 電視. (din6 si6.) |
| David: Followed by “news.” |
| Gimmy: 新聞. (san1 man4.) |
| David: “Television news.” |
| Gimmy: 電視新聞. (din6 si6 san1 man4.) |
| David: “Television news.” |
| Gimmy: 電視新聞. (din6 si6 san1 man4.) |
| David: Right. So if something’s happened and you want to watch the news on televisions, you can always ask… |
| Gimmy: 開電視，我要睇新聞. (hoi1 din6 si6, ngo5 jiu3 tai2 san1 man4.) |
| David: “Turn on the television.” |
| Gimmy: 開電視. (hoi1 din6 si6.) |
| David: I want to watch the news. |
| Gimmy: 我要睇新聞. (ngo5 jiu3 tai2 san1 man4.) |
| David: Turn on the T.V, I want to watch the news. |
| Gimmy: 開電視，我要睇新聞. (hoi1 din6 si6, ngo5 jiu3 tai2 san1 man4.) |
| David: Right. Now in our dialogue, we also had the verb “to go online.” |
| Gimmy: 上網. (soeng5 mong5.) |
| David: A lot of people will go online to watch the news. |
| Gimmy: 上網睇新聞. (soeng5 mong5 tai2 san1 man4.) |
| David: But the verb “going online” is different than the noun for “the internet.” |
| Gimmy: 網絡. (mong5 lok6.) |
| David: Right. That’s “the internet.” |
| Gimmy: 網絡. (mong5 lok6.) |
| David: Or literally “network.” |
| Gimmy: 網絡. (mong5 lok6.) |
| David: So in Hong Kong, you’ve got a choice between three ways of getting a news. |
| Gimmy: Right. We have 報紙. (bou3 zi2.) |
| David: “Newspapers.” |
| Gimmy: 電視. (din6 si6.) |
| David: “Television.” |
| Gimmy: And 網絡. (mong5 lok6.) |
| David: “The internet.” |
Lesson focus |
| David: Our grammar point today is focusing on talking in the past tense. If you remember from earlier lessons there’s a very simple way to put verbs in the past tense. |
| Gimmy: Yes. We just put 咗 after a verb. |
| David: Right. So for simple verbs like “buy.” |
| Gimmy: 買. (maai5.) |
| David: In the past tense, that becomes 買咗. (maai5 zo2.) |
| Gimmy: 買咗. (maai5 zo2.) |
| David: “I bought it. “ |
| Gimmy: 我買咗. (ngo5 maai5 zo2.) |
| David: “He bought it.” |
| Gimmy: 佢買咗. (keoi5 maai5 zo2.) |
| David: For another example, consider the verb “to watch…” |
| Gimmy: 睇. (tai2.) |
| David: …as in the phrase “To watch television.” |
| Gimmy: 睇電視. (tai2 din6 si6.) |
| David: In the past tense, that would be… |
| Gimmy: 睇咗電視. (tai2 zo2 din6 si6.) |
| David: “I watched the news.” |
| Gimmy: 我睇咗新聞. (ngo5 tai2 zo2 san1 man4.) |
| David: “I watched television.” |
| Gimmy: 我睇咗電視. (ngo5 tai2 zo2 din6 si6.) |
| David: “Did you see the news?” |
| Gimmy: 你睇咗新聞? (nei5 tai2 zo2 san1 man4?) |
| David: Right. In our dialogue, we have a bit more of an advanced case. Listen to the first line. |
| Gimmy: 今日上咗網未？(gam1 jat6 soeng5 zo2 mong5 mei6?) |
| David: The verb here is “go online.” |
| Gimmy: 上網. (soeng5 mong5.) |
| David: “To go online.” |
| Gimmy: 上網. (soeng5 mong5.) |
| David: Listen to what happens when you put this in the past tense. |
| Gimmy: 上咗網. (soeng5 zo2 mong5.) |
| David: Again. |
| Gimmy: 上咗網. (soeng5 zo2 mong5.) |
| David: We see the same thing. With most two character verbs, they consist of a verb and an object, for instance “to eat food.” |
| Gimmy: 食飯. (sik6 faan6.) |
| David: In the past tense, that becomes…. |
| Gimmy: 食咗飯. (sik6 zo2 faan6.) |
| David: Right. So the thing to be careful with is that with two character verbs, if the second character is an object, we’re going to put… |
| Gimmy: 咗. (zo2.) |
| David: …in the middle of the word. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: “I went online.” |
| Gimmy: 我上咗網. (ngo5 soeng5 zo2 mong5.) |
| David: “Did you go online?” |
| Gimmy: 你上咗網? (nei5 soeng5 zo2 mong5?) |
| David: “Have you eaten?” |
| Gimmy: 你食咗飯? (nei5 sik6 zo2 faan6?) |
| David: So remember, conjugating verbs is really easy in Cantonese. To put them in the past tense, just add… |
| Gimmy: 咗. (zo2.) |
| David: …after the verb. |
| Gimmy: Right. Okay, right. And we’re out of time. |
| David: For today then, I’m David. |
Outro |
| Gimmy: 我係 (ngo5 hai6) Gimmy. |
| David: Thanks a lot of listening and we’ll see you on the site. |
| Gimmy: 下次見. (haa6 ci3 gin3.) |
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