Learn about the particle 緊
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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 18. |
| Gimmy: Can’t You See I’m Busy? |
| David: Right. We’ve got a dialogue that takes place at the office dealing with someone who is under a lot of stress because they’re in the middle of something. Can’t you see it? |
| Gimmy: Yeah. But then, someone’s asking him to get off, to leave. |
| David: Yeah. So our dialogue consist of standard Cantonese the way it’s actually spoken in Hong Kong. Let’s go listen. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 你做緊咩？(nei5 zou6 gan2 me1?) |
| 而家開緊會。(ji4 gaa1 hoi1 gan2 wui2.) |
| 等緊你放工呀。(dang2 gan2 nei5 fong3 gung1 aa3.) |
| 等多陣啦。(dang2 do1 zan6 laa1.) |
| David: One more time, a bit slower. |
| 你做緊咩？(nei5 zou6 gan2 me1?) |
| 而家開緊會。(ji4 gaa1 hoi1 gan2 wui2.) |
| 等緊你放工呀。(dang2 gan2 nei5 fong3 gung1 aa3.) |
| 等多陣啦。(dang2 do1 zan6 laa1.) |
| David: And now, with the English translation. |
| 你做緊咩？(nei5 zou6 gan2 me1?) |
| David: What are you doing? |
| 而家開緊會。(ji4 gaa1 hoi1 gan2 wui2.) |
| David: I'm having a meeting now. |
| 等緊你放工呀。(dang2 gan2 nei5 fong3 gung1 aa3.) |
| David: I'm waiting for you to get off work. |
| 等多陣啦。(dang2 do1 zan6 laa1.) |
| David: Just wait for a little while. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: I have bad news for the first speaker. In Hong Kong, it’s normal for the work day to go until 8:00 PM. |
| Gimmy: At least. |
| David: Sometimes, 9 or 10 (PM). |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: So maybe you’ll be waiting a bit more a little bit. Anyway, our vocab today, it’s about office activities. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: Holding a meeting, going to work, getting of work. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: Let’s get to it. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gimmy: 做咩 (zou6 me1) [natural native speed] |
| David: To do what. |
| Gimmy: 做咩 (zou6 me1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 做咩 (zou6 me1) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 而家 (ji4 gaa1) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Now. |
| Gimmy: 而家 (ji4 gaa1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 而家 (ji4 gaa1) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 開會 (hoi1 wui2) [natural native speed] |
| David: To hold a meeting. |
| Gimmy: 開會 (hoi1 wui2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 開會 (hoi1 wui2) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 散會 (saan3 wui2) [natural native speed] |
| David: To end a meeting. |
| Gimmy: 散會 (saan3 wui2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 散會 (saan3 wui2) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 返工 (faan1 gung1) [natural native speed] |
| David: To go to work. |
| Gimmy: 返工 (faan1 gung1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 返工 (faan1 gung1) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 放工 (fong3 gung1) [natural native speed] |
| David: To get off work. |
| Gimmy: 放工 (fong3 gung1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 放工 (fong3 gung1) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 等陣 (dang2 zan6) [natural native speed]. |
| David: To wait a while. |
| Gimmy: 等陣 (dang2 zan6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 等陣 (dang2 zan6) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 請假 (ceng2 gaa3) [natural native speed]. |
| David: To take time off. |
| Gimmy: 請假 (ceng2 gaa3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 請假 (ceng2 gaa3) [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| David: Let’s take a closer look at some of these words and phrases. Our verbs today are verbs related to office activities. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: But first, before you can start then, you need to get to the office. |
| Gimmy: 返工. (faan1 gung1.) |
| David: “To go to work.” |
| Gimmy: 返工. (faan1 gung1.) |
| David: Now, this sounds a lot like another word. |
| Gimmy: 放工. (fong3 gung1.) |
| David: “To get off work.” |
| Gimmy: 放工. (fong3 gung1.) |
| David: “To get off work. “ |
| Gimmy: 放工. (fong3 gung1.) |
| David: And they sound really, really close. So let’s hear them again right beside each other. |
| Gimmy: 返工 (faan1 gung1), 放工 (fong3 gung1). |
| David: So the second character there is “work”. |
| Gimmy: Yes, it’s the same. 工 (gung1) |
| David: But the first character is slightly different. |
| Gimmy: Right, 返. 放. 返. 放. (faan1. fong3. faan1. fong3.) |
| David: Practically speaking, they’re close enough that when your boss calls you and tells you to get to work, you can tell them “I thought you were giving me the day off?” |
| Gimmy: Really? |
| David: And we have that word in our dialogue, too. |
| Gimmy: 請假. (ceng2 gaa3.) |
| David: “To ask for time off.” |
| Gimmy: 請假. (ceng2 gaa3.) |
| David: “Boss, I need to ask for time off.” |
| Gimmy: 老細，我想請假. (lou5 sai3, ngo5 soeng2 ceng2 gaa3.) |
| David: Or, “Boss, I want to ask for time off.” |
| Gimmy: 老細，我想放假. (lou5 sai3, ngo5 soeng2 fong3 gaa2.) |
| David: “Boss, I want to ask for time off. |
| Gimmy: 老細，我想放假. (lou5 sai3, ngo5 soeng2 fong3 gaa2.) |
| David: Or maybe it’s more present. “Boss, I need to ask for time off.” |
| Gimmy: 老細，我要請假. (lou5 sai3, ngo5 jiu3 ceng2 gaa3.) |
| David: “Boss, I need to ask for time off.” |
| Gimmy: 老細，我要請假. (lou5 sai3, ngo5 jiu3 ceng2 gaa3.) |
| David: And hopefully, the answer will be “yes” but it might be “no, we’re having a meeting.” |
| Gimmy: 唔得，我哋開緊會. (m4 dak1, ngo5 dei6 hoi1 gan2 wui2.) |
| David: Which is, “No, we need to have a meeting.” |
| Gimmy: 唔得，我哋要開會. (m4 dak1, ngo5 dei6 jiu3 hoi1 wui2.) |
| David: Let’s take a look at that verb, “to have a meeting.” |
| Gimmy: 開會. (hoi1 wui2.) |
| David: The first sound means “to start”. |
| Gimmy: 開. (hoi1.) |
| David: And the second word is “meeting.” |
| Gimmy: 會. (wui2.) |
| David: “To start a meeting.” |
| Gimmy: 開會. (hoi1 wui2.) |
| David: But if the meeting is ongoing, you’d still say, “We’re starting a meeting.” |
| Gimmy: Right. Like in our dialogue, “We’re having a meeting now.” 而家開緊會. (ji4 gaa1 hoi1 gan2 wui2.) |
| David: “Now starting a meeting/now holding a meeting.” |
| Gimmy: 而家開緊會. (ji4 gaa1 hoi1 gan2 wui2.) |
| David: So a lot of office-related verbs. We have “to go to work.” |
| Gimmy: 返工. (faan1 gung1.) |
| David: “To get off work.” |
| Gimmy: 放工. (fong3 gung1.) |
| David: “To take time off.” |
| Gimmy: 請假. (ceng2 gaa3.) |
| David: And “to hold a meeting.” |
| Gimmy: 開會. (hoi1 wui2.) |
| David: In our grammar section, we’re going to talk about how we can do these things continuously. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: It’s grammar time! |
Lesson focus |
| David: Gimmy, what’s our grammar focus today? |
| Gimmy: Today, we’re teaching the continuous aspect. |
| David: Right. This is a way of expressing that the verb you’re using is still happening. |
| Gimmy: Yes, it’s ongoing. |
| David: Right. For an example from our dialogue, take a look at that second line. |
| Gimmy: 而家開緊會. (ji4 gaa1 hoi1 gan2 wui2.) |
| David: “Now we’re holding a meeting.” |
| Gimmy: 而家開緊會. (Ji4 gaa1 hoi1 gan2 wui2.) |
| David: Or take a look at the third line, “I’m waiting.” |
| Gimmy: 我等緊你放工. (ngo5 dang2 gan2 nei5 fong3 gung1.) |
| David: “I’m waiting for you to get off work.” |
| Gimmy: 我等緊你放工. (ngo5 dang2 gan2 nei5 fong3 gung1.) |
| David: So we have a new particle here. That particle is… |
| Gimmy: 緊. (gan2.) |
| David: And we’re putting this particle after our verb. |
| Gimmy: For example, our first line, 做緊. (zou6 gan2.) |
| David: “Doing.” |
| Gimmy: Second line, 開緊. (hoi1 gan2.) |
| David: “Starting” or “holding”. |
| Gimmy: The third one, 等緊. (dang2 gan2.) |
| David: “Waiting”. In terms of usage, this is just like putting these verbs into the past tense. We’ve just changed the particle from… |
| Gimmy: 咗. (zo2.) |
| David: to… |
| Gimmy: 緊. (gan2.) |
| David: Once more, “I am doing.” |
| Gimmy: 我做緊. (ngo5 zou6 gan2.) |
| David: “I am holding (a meeting)”. |
| Gimmy: 我開緊. (ngo5 hoi1 gan2.) |
| David: “I am waiting”. |
| Gimmy: 我等緊. (ngo5 dang2 gan2.) |
| David: And as with putting verbs in the past tense, we have to be a bit careful with multi character verbs. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: Especially to verb-object-verbs like “to hold a meeting”. |
| Gimmy: 開會. (hoi1 wui2.) |
| David: In these cases, we split the verb in the object and we put our particle in the middle. |
| Gimmy: 開緊會. (hoi1 gan2 wui2.) |
| David: “To be holding a meeting.” |
| Gimmy: 開緊會. (hoi1 gan2 wui2.) |
| David: How about “to be eating food”? |
| Gimmy: 食緊飯. (sik6 gan2 faan6.) |
| David: “To be watching a movie.” |
| Gimmy: 睇緊戲. (tai2 gan2 hei3.) |
| David: “To be on the phone.” |
| Gimmy: 講緊電話. (gong2 gan2 din6 waa2.) |
| David: “I’m watching a movie.” |
| Gimmy:我睇緊戲. (ngo5 tai2 gan2 hei3.) |
| David: “I’m on the phone.” |
| Gimmy: 我講緊電話. (ngo5 gong2 gan2 din6 waa2.) |
| David: “I’m going to work.” |
| Gimmy: 我返緊工. (ngo5 faan1 gan2 gung1.) |
| David: So that’s our grammar point for today. It’s new but it’s relatively easy. |
| Gimmy: Yes. Practice a bit. You’ll be able to use it in no time. |
Outro |
| David: Right. So that’s all the time we have for today. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you on the site. |
| Gimmy: 希望下次見. (hei1 mong6 haa6 ci3 gin3.) |
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