Learn how to make educated guesses
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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 22. |
| Gimmy: Leaving Hong Kong. |
| David: Right. And if you live and work in Hong Kong, it’s really common for people to just leave the island for the weekend. |
| Gimmy: It’s so convenient. |
| David: Yeah. |
| Gimmy: There’s so many places to go. |
| David: You’ve got Thailand, you’ve the Philippines, you’ve got Bali. It’s really common. |
| Gimmy: Nice. Yeah. |
| David: So our dialogue today takes place between two friends and they’re talking with another friend who’s taking the weekend somewhere else. |
| Gimmy: This is casual Cantonese as spoken in Hong Kong. |
| David: Let’s listen. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| A: 佢聽日飛呀？ (keoi5 ting1 jat6 fei1 aa4?) |
| B: 係啩，唔知呀。 (hai6 gwaa3, m4 zi1 aa3.) |
| A: 飛邊度呀？ (fei1 bin1 dou6 aa3?) |
| B: 我估泰國啩。(ngo5 gu2 taai3 gwok3 gwaa3.) |
| David: One more time, a bit slower. |
| A: 佢聽日飛呀？ (keoi5 ting1 jat6 fei1 aa4?) |
| B: 係啩，唔知呀。 (hai6 gwaa3, m4 zi1 aa3.) |
| A: 飛邊度呀？ (fei1 bin1 dou6 aa3?) |
| B: 我估泰國啩。(ngo5 gu2 taai3 gwok3 gwaa3.) |
| David: And now, with the English translation. |
| A: 佢聽日飛呀？ (keoi5 ting1 jat6 fei1 aa4?) |
| A: Is he flying tomorrow? |
| B: 係啩，唔知呀。 (hai6 gwaa3, m4 zi1 aa3.) |
| B: Maybe, I don't know. |
| A: 飛邊度呀？ (fei1 bin1 dou6 aa3?) |
| A: Where is he flying to? |
| B: 我估泰國啩。(ngo5 gu2 taai3 gwok3 gwaa3.) |
| B: I guess maybe Thailand？ |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: Because they have really nice beaches in Thailand. |
| Gimmy: Nice food, nice massages too. |
| David: Well, Hong Kong, you’ve got the food, you’ve got the massages, but we’re still working on the beaches. You got to give us a bit of time. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: Anyway, our vocab section today is partly review and partly new. Let’s get to it. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gimmy: 聽日 (ting1 jit6) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Tomorrow. |
| Gimmy: 聽日 (ting1 jit6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 聽日 (ting1 jit6) [natural native speed]. |
| 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: 尋日 (cam4 jat6) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Yesterday. |
| Gimmy: 尋日 (cam4 jat6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 尋日 (cam4 jat6) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 飛 (fei1) [natural native speed]. |
| David: To fly. |
| Gimmy: 飛 (fei1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 飛 (fei1) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 唔知 (m4 zi1) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Not to know. |
| Gimmy: 唔知 (m4 zi1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 唔知 (m4 zi1) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 邊度 (bin1 dou6) [natural native speed] |
| David: Where. |
| Gimmy: 邊度 (bin1 dou6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 邊度 (bin1 dou6) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 估 (gu2) [natural native speed]. |
| David: To guess. |
| Gimmy: 估 (gu2) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 估 (gu2) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 泰國 (taai3 gwok3) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Thailand. |
| Gimmy: 泰國 (taai3 gwok3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 泰國 (taai3 gwok3) [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| David: The first thing we want to do is review the words for yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Today is… |
| Gimmy: 今日. (gam1 jat6.) |
| David: “Today.” |
| Gimmy: 今日. (gam1 jat6.) |
| David: “I’m traveling today.” |
| Gimmy: 我今日飛. (ngo5 gam1 jat6 fei1.) |
| David: “I’m traveling to Thailand today.” |
| Gimmy: 我今日飛泰國. (ngo5 gam1 jat6 fei1 taai3 gwok3.) |
| David: Just drop and mention of this in conversation and your friends will be impressed, right? And there’s that word “to travel” there. |
| Gimmy: 飛. (fei1.) |
| David: “To travel.” |
| Gimmy: 飛. (fei1.) |
| David: Literally, this means “to fly.” |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: But people will use it “I’m going to Thailand.” |
| Gimmy: Yes, people use 飛 (fei1) a lot in Hong Kong just to refer to traveling. |
| David: Right. So it is literally “flying”… |
| Gimmy: 飛. (fei1) |
| David: …but it means “traveling.” |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: Is this the same character as the word for “ticket” we ran into before? |
| Gimmy: No, but it’s the same sound. |
| David: Right. So “traveling”…. |
| Gimmy: 飛. (fei1.) |
| David: …sound like “ticket.” |
| Gimmy: 飛. (fei1) |
| David: In our dialogue, we have the word “tomorrow.” |
| Gimmy: 聽日. (ting1 jat6.) |
| David: “Tomorrow.” |
| Gimmy: 聽日. (ting1 jat6.) |
| David: “Is he flying tomorrow?” |
| Gimmy: 佢聽日飛呀？ (keoi5 ting1 jat6 fei1 aa4?) |
| David: “Is he flying tomorrow?” |
| Gimmy: 佢聽日飛呀？ (keoi5 ting1 jat6 fei1 aa4?) |
| David: Right. And also the word “yesterday.” |
| Gimmy: 尋日. (cam4 jat6.) |
| David: “Yesterday.” |
| Gimmy: 尋日. (cam4 jat6.) |
| David: And Hong Kong is one of the few places where you can actually say “I was in Thailand yesterday.” |
| Gimmy: 我尋日喺泰國. (ngo5 cam4 jat6 hai2 taai3 gwok3.) |
| David: “I was in Thailand yesterday.” |
| Gimmy: 我尋日喺泰國. (ngo5 cam4 jat6 hai2 taai3 gwok3.) |
| David: Although so many people travel, you’re probably not going to impress your friends that much. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: We have a couple of new words here, of course. The first is “to fly”… |
| Gimmy: 飛. (fei1 .) |
| David: …which also means “to travel.” |
| Gimmy: 飛. (fei1 .) |
| David: As in our dialogue, “where are you going?” |
| Gimmy: 飛邊度呀? (fei1 bin1 dou6 aa3?) |
| David: So you might ask a friend “where are you going?” |
| Gimmy: 你飛邊度呀? (nei5 fei1 bin1 dou6 aa3?) |
| David: “Where are you going?” |
| Gimmy: 你飛邊度呀? (nei5 fei1 bin1 dou6 aa3?) |
| David: If I’m not actually taking a plane though, should I use 飛? (fei1?) |
| Gimmy: No. 飛 (fei1) include the motion of flying but then it’s really flying on the airplane. |
| David: Right, because you don’t really take a boat places from Hong Kong. |
| Gimmy: No. |
| David: Maybe to the mainland. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: The last word we want to highlight is the word “to guess.” |
| Gimmy: 估. (gu2.) |
| David: “To guess.” |
| Gimmy: 估. (gu2.) |
| David: And in our grammar section, we’re going to talk about guessing and how to sound uncertain. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
Lesson focus |
| David: It’s grammar time! |
| David: Gimmy, what’s grammar focus today? |
| Gimmy: Today, we’re going to talk about guessing and uncertainty. |
| David: Right. Take a look at this line from our dialogue. |
| Gimmy: 我估泰國啩. (ngo5 gu2 taai3 gwok3 gwaa3.) |
| David: “I guess maybe Thailand.” |
| Gimmy: 我估泰國啩. (ngo5 gu2 taai3 gwok3 gwaa3.) |
| David: How about “I guess maybe China”? |
| Gimmy: 我估中國啩. (ngo5 gu2 zung1 gwok3 gwaa3.) |
| David: “I guess China maybe.” |
| Gimmy: 我估中國啩. (ngo5 gu2 zung1 gwok3 gwaa3.) |
| David: So first, we have the subject and then the verb. |
| Gimmy: 我估. (ngo5 gu2.) |
| David: “I guess.” |
| Gimmy: 我估. (ngo5 gu2.) |
| David: “He guesses.” |
| Gimmy: 佢估. (keoi5 gu2.) |
| David: “She guesses.” |
| Gimmy: 佢估. (keoi5 gu2.) |
| David: “You guess.” |
| Gimmy: 你估. (nei5 gu2.) |
| David: The rest of the sentence is straightforward “I guess Thailand.” |
| Gimmy: 我估泰國. (ngo5 gu2 taai3 gwok3.) |
| David: But then we have an extra sound on the end of the our sentence. |
| Gimmy: 啩. (gwaa3.) |
| David: It’s this sound that adds this feeling of uncertainty. |
| Gimmy: Right, 啩. (gwaa3.) |
| David: Listen to some of the following examples. “Maybe.” |
| Gimmy: 係啩. (hai6 gwaa3.) |
| David: “Maybe.” |
| Gimmy: 係啩. (hai6 gwaa3.) |
| David: Or “maybe not.” |
| Gimmy: 唔係啩. (m4 hai6 gwaa3.) |
| David: “Maybe not.” |
| Gimmy: 唔係啩. (m4 hai6 gwaa3.) |
| David: If you’re holding a party and talking about who might come and who might not come, you might have this discussion with a friend. |
| Gimmy: 我估佢會去啩. (ngo5 gu2 keoi5 wui5 heoi3 gwaa3.) |
| David: “I guess he might go.” |
| Gimmy: 我估佢會嚟啩. (ngo5 gu2 keoi5 wui5 lei4 gwaa3 .) |
| David: “I guess he might come.” |
| Gimmy: 我估佢會嚟啩. (ngo5 gu2 keoi5 wui5 lei4 gwaa3.) |
| David: Right. Or let’s say you’re planning a night out. Maybe you’re trying to decide what to do. You could say, “Well, I guess maybe a restaurant.” |
| Gimmy: 我估去餐廳啩. (ngo5 gu2 heoi3 caan1 teng1 gwaa3.) |
| David: “I guess maybe a restaurant.” |
| Gimmy: 我估去餐廳啩. (ngo5 gu2 heoi3 caan1 teng1 gwaa3.) |
| David: Or maybe you’re talking about a new friend and you’re guessing what his job is. You asked a friend, “What does he do?” |
| Gimmy: 佢做咩㗎? (keoi5 zou6 me1 gaa3?) |
| David: “What does he do?” |
| Gimmy: 佢做咩㗎? (keoi5 zou6 me1 gaa3?) |
| David: But they don’t know either or maybe they only have… |
| Gimmy: Some clue. |
| David: Yeah, a couple of clues. He’s always traveling. They might say…. |
| Gimmy: 佢可能係機師啩. (keoi5 ho2 nang4 hai6 gei1 si1 gwaa3.) |
| David: “I guess maybe a pilot.” |
| Gimmy: 我估佢可能係機師啩. (ngo5 gu2 keoi5 ho2 nang4 hai6 gei1 si1 gwaa3.) |
| David: “I guess maybe a pilot.” So there are two parts to this sentence. The first is…. |
| Gimmy: 估. (gu2.) |
| David: “To guess.” |
| Gimmy: 估. (gu2.) |
| David: The second is finishing our sentence with this sound. |
| Gimmy: 啩. (gwaa3.) |
| David: The second is optional. In our dialogue, the speaker could have just said… |
| Gimmy: 泰國啩. (taai3 gwok3 gwaa3.) |
| David: “Maybe Thailand.” |
| Gimmy: 泰國啩. (taai3 gwok3 gwaa3.) |
| David: So this is really easy grammar point but using it is going make your Cantonese much more expressive. |
| Gimmy: Or much more uncertain. |
Outro |
| David: Right. For now though, that’s all the time we have today. I’m David. |
| Gimmy: 我係 (ngo5 hai6) Gimmy. |
| David: Thanks a lot for listening and we’ll see you on the site. |
| Gimmy: 多謝收聽，網上見. (do1 ze6 sau1 teng1, mong5 soeng6 gin3.) |
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