Learn how to say something will be happening soon
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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 23. |
| Gimmy: Working Late in Hong Kong. |
| David: Right. So to set the scene, we’ve got an employee at 10:00 rushing to finish a report. |
| Gimmy: And the boss is right behind them… |
| David: Right, urging him to work faster. |
| Gimmy: But his girlfriend’s calling. |
| David: Right. So he wants to finish right away so he can go home. |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: This dialogue features casual Cantonese the way it’s really spoken in Hong Kong. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| A: 仲有幾耐做完？(zung6 jau5 gei2 noi6 zou6 jyun4?) |
| B: 就嚟搞掂。(zau6 lai4 gaau2 dim6.) |
| A: 快啲啦！(faai3 di1 laa1!) |
| B: 就得啦。 (zau6 dak1 laa3.) |
| David: One more time, a bit slower. |
| A: 仲有幾耐做完？(zung6 jau5 gei2 noi6 zou6 jyun4?) |
| B: 就嚟搞掂。(zau6 lai4 gaau2 dim6.) |
| A: 快啲啦！(faai3 di1 laa1!) |
| B: 就得啦。 (zau6 dak1 laa3.) |
| David: And now, with the English translation. |
| A: 仲有幾耐做完？(zung6 jau5 gei2 noi6 zou6 jyun4?) |
| A: How long do you have left? |
| B: 就嚟搞掂。(zau6 lai4 gaau2 dim6.) |
| B: I'll be finished soon. |
| A: 快啲啦！(faai3 di1 laa1!) |
| A: Faster! |
| B: 就得啦。 (zau6 dak1 laa3.) |
| B: Almost done. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: The bad news, of course, is that it’s 10:00 A.M. |
| Gimmy: Oh, my god. He was supposed to start working at 9:00. |
| David: Right. So he doesn’t get to go home anyway. |
| Gimmy: Oh. |
| David: Because it’s the next day. Welcome to Hong Kong. Anyway, our vocab section today is mostly review. So see how much of this you remember. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gimmy: 仲有 (zung6 jau5) [natural native speed] |
| David: Still to have; also have. |
| Gimmy: 仲有 (zung6 jau5) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 仲有 (zung6 jau5) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 幾耐 (gei2 noi6) [natural native speed] |
| David: How long. |
| Gimmy: 幾耐 (gei2 noi6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 幾耐 (gei2 noi6) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 做完 (zou6 jyun4) [natural native speed]. |
| David: To finish. |
| Gimmy: 做完 (zou6 jyun4) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 做完 (zou6 jyun4) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 搞掂 (gaau2 dim6) [natural native speed]. |
| David: To resolve. |
| Gimmy: 搞掂 (gaau2 dim6) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 搞掂 (gaau2 dim6) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 快 (faai3) [natural native speed] |
| David: Fast. |
| Gimmy: 快 (faai3) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 快 (faai3) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 就嚟 (zau6 lai4) [natural native speed] |
| David: Almost. |
| Gimmy: 就嚟 (zau6 lai4) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 就嚟 (zau6 lai4) [natural native speed]. |
| Gimmy: 得 (dak1) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Okay. |
| Gimmy: 得 (dak1) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 得 (dak1) [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| David: Let’s take a closer look at some of these words and phrases. The first word we want to talk about is actually in the last line… |
| Gimmy: 就得啦. (zau6 dak1 laa3.) |
| David: Right. It’s the word… |
| Gimmy: 得. (dak1.) |
| David: And Gimmy, before the podcast, we were talking about how to translate this. |
| Gimmy: I know. |
| David: Right? It means “okay” or… |
| Gimmy: It means “done.” |
| David: …“done.” |
| Gimmy: It’s okay; it’s finished. |
| David: Right. So listen to the line again. |
| Gimmy: 就得啦. (zau6 dak1 laa3.) |
| David: What he’s really saying is “soon it’s done”, “soon it’s okay.” |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
| David: It’ll be done soon, it’ll be okay soon. |
| Gimmy: It’s very general line that could be used any time. |
| David: Yeah. I mean, it means done but he’s not saying “done”; it just means “okay.” |
| Gimmy: Yes, 就得啦. (zau6 dak1 laa3.) |
| David: Okay. |
| Gimmy: 得 (dak1) |
| David: Now, some of the words here are review for us such as the verb… |
| Gimmy: 仲有. (zung6 jau5.) |
| David: “Still to have.” |
| Gimmy: 仲有. (zung6 jau5.) |
| David: Or “also to have.” “I still have five minutes.” |
| Gimmy: 我仲有五分鐘. (ngo5 zung6 jau5 ng5 fan1 zung1.) |
| David: “I have a car; I also have a house.” |
| Gimmy: 我有車，我仲有樓. (ngo5 jau5 ce1, ngo5 zung6 jau5 lau4.) |
| David: Right. In previous lessons, we’ve also seen the question “how long?” |
| Gimmy: 幾耐? (gei2 noi6?) |
| David: “How long?” |
| Gimmy: 幾耐. (gei2 noi6.) For example you’re in a meeting; you want to know how long is the meeting, 仲有幾耐開完會? (zung6 jau5 gei2 noi6 hoi1 jyun4 wui5?) |
| David: “How long is the meeting?” |
| Gimmy: 仲有幾耐開完會? (zung6 jau5 gei2 noi6 hoi1 jyun4 wui5?) |
| David: Right. Now some of the more difficult words from this lesson. The most difficult is probably the verb we translated as “to resolve.” |
| Gimmy: 搞掂. (gaau2 dim6.) |
| David: “To resolve.” |
| Gimmy: 搞掂. (gaau2 dim6.) |
| David: And this really means to kind of “to take care of” or “to settle up” or “to finish.” |
| Gimmy: Yes. Again, this is very Cantonese. |
| David: Yeah. It’s sort of like in English when we say “to take care of something.” |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: Right? You need to understand contextually what they’re talking about. |
| Gimmy: Yeah. It’s hard to translate exactly. |
| David: Right. But you could say things like “I’ve taken care of the problem.” |
| Gimmy: 我搞掂咗個問題. (ngo5 gaau2 dim6 zo2 go3 man6 tai4.) |
| David: “I’ve taken care of the problem.” |
| Gimmy: 我搞掂咗個問題. (ngo5 gaau2 dim6 zo2 go3 man6 tai4.) |
| David: And the nice thing is that sentence works if you’ve got a real job and it works if you’re in the Triads, too. “Boss, I’ve taken care of the problem.” |
| Gimmy: 老細, 我搞掂咗個問題. (lou5 sai3, ngo5 gaau2 dim6 zo2 go3 man6 tai4.) |
| David: “Boss, relax, I’ve taken care of things.” |
| Gimmy: 老細，放心，我搞掂咗喇. (lou5 sai3, fong3 sam1, ngo5 gaau2 dim6 zo2 laa3.) |
| David: Right. Or maybe “Boss, relax. I’ve taken care of the report.” |
| Gimmy: 老細，放心，我搞掂咗個報告. (lou5 sai3, fong3 sam1, ngo5 gaau2 dim6 zo2 go3 bou3 gou3.) |
| David: Right. However, in our dialogue, the report has not been finished. It is almost going to be finished, and that’s what we’re going to cover in our grammar section. |
| Gimmy: Yes. |
Lesson focus |
| David: Gimmy, what are we learning today? |
| David: It’s grammar time! |
| Gimmy: We’re learning how to say “almost” and “soon to be.” |
| David: Right. When something hasn’t happened yet but it’s going to happen soon… |
| Gimmy: Right. |
| David: …such as in our dialogue. |
| Gimmy: 就嚟搞掂. (zau6 lai4 gaau2 dim6.) |
| David: “It’ll be finished soon.” |
| Gimmy: 就嚟搞掂. (zau6 lai4 gaau2 dim6.) |
| David: “It’ll be taken care of quickly.” We already know the verb “to take care of.” |
| Gimmy: 搞掂. (gaau2 dim6.) |
| David: In this sentence, we’re putting it after the adverb… |
| Gimmy: 就嚟. (zau6 lai4.) |
| David: “Soon.” |
| Gimmy: 就嚟. (zau6 lai4.) |
| David: So literally we’re saying “soon taken care of.” |
| Gimmy: Right, 就嚟搞掂. (zau6 lai4 gaau2 dim6.) |
| David: Right. And we can replace this verb with any verb we want. |
| Gimmy: True. |
| David: For instance, “we’ll eat soon.” |
| Gimmy: 我哋就嚟食嘢. (ngo5 dei6 zau6 lai4 sik6 je5.) |
| David: “We’ll eat soon.” |
| Gimmy: 我哋就嚟食嘢. (ngo5 dei6 zau6 lai4 sik6 je5.) |
| David: If you have stuff of your own, you may want to promise them “we’ll get off work soon.” |
| Gimmy: 我哋就嚟放工 (ngo5 dei6 zau6 lai4 fong3 gung1), especially if it’s 10:00 PM. |
| David: Yeah. Or maybe “you’ll get off work soon.” |
| Gimmy: 你就嚟放工. (nei5 zau6 lai4 fong3 gung1.) |
| David: Which is nice because as with English, we’re being really vague about what constitutes soon. |
| Gimmy: Exactly. |
| David: Maybe it’s tomorrow, maybe two months. The report needs to be done. |
| Gimmy: Right, as long as it’s done. |
| David: Right. So this is a really simply grammar pattern. We simply put… |
| Gimmy: 就嚟 (zau6 lai4) |
| David: …in front of our verb. |
| Gimmy: Right, David. Let me give you some examples. |
| David: Okay. |
| Gimmy: First, 我就嚟搞掂. (ngo5 zau6 lai4 gaau2 dim6.) |
| David: “I’m almost done.” |
| Gimmy: 我就嚟搞掂。 (ngo5 zau6 lai4 gaau2 dim6.) |
| David: Right. If you remember our previous lesson, we talked about getting married. |
| Gimmy: 結婚 (git3 fan1)。 佢就嚟結婚 (keoi5 zau6 lai4 git3 fan1)。 |
| David: “He’s getting married soon.” |
| Gimmy: 佢就嚟結婚. (keoi5 zau6 lai4 git3 fan1.) |
| David: We also recently had a lesson about traveling. |
| Gimmy: 飛. (fei1.) |
| David: So you might say, “The flight is taking off soon.” |
| Gimmy: 班機就嚟飛. (baan1 gei1 zau6 lai4 fei1.) |
| David: “The flight is taking off soon.” |
| Gimmy: 班機就嚟飛. (baan1 gei1 zau6 lai4 fei1.) |
| David: So a simple grammar point… |
| Gimmy: …but one we use all the time. |
| David: Right. Start using this and people are going to notice that your Cantonese is getting better. And with that, we’re out of time in today’s podcast. |
Outro |
| Gimmy: We’ll see you next time. |
| David: I’m David… |
| Gimmy: 我係 (ngo5 hai6) Gimmy. |
| David: And we’ll see you next time. |
| Gimmy: 下次見. (haa6 ci3 gin3.) |
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