Learn all you need to know about greetings in Cantonese
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Intro |
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| Michael: How do you greet someone at different times of the day in Cantonese? |
| Siuling: And are there any alternatives? |
| Michael: At CantoneseClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Ben Lee is greeting his friend, but he hasn't noticed how late it became. Ben says, "Good morning!" |
| 李龍林: 早晨！ (zou2 san4!) |
| Dialogue |
| 李龍林: 早晨！ (zou2 san4!) |
| 梁樂霖: 已經下晝三點喇，應該講午安。 (ji5 ging1 haa6 zau3 saam1 dim2 laa3, jing1 goi1 gong2 ng5 on1.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| 李龍林: 早晨！ (zou2 san4!) |
| Michael: "Good morning!" |
| 梁樂霖: 已經下晝三點喇，應該講午安。 (ji5 ging1 haa6 zau3 saam1 dim2 laa3, jing1 goi1 gong2 ng5 on1.) |
| Michael: "It's already 3 pm, you should say "Good afternoon."" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, we will talk about time-sensitive Cantonese greetings. Cantonese, similar to English, has some greetings that are used depending on the time of the day. Cantonese speakers mostly differentiate between three particular times of the day, using the following greetings. The first is |
| Siuling: 早晨 (zou2 san4) |
| Michael: meaning "Good morning," and used in the early morning hours. The second one is |
| Siuling: 午安 (ng5 on1), |
| Michael: meaning, literally, "Good afternoon," which is used starting from noon to the evening at around 6 pm, and the last one is |
| Siuling: 晚安 (maan5 on1), |
| Michael: meaning "Good evening." The last greeting is used starting from around 6 pm until the end of the day. As you can see, there are some similarities between English and Cantonese when it comes to time-sensitive greetings. But what if we'd like to replace those greetings with time-neutral ones? |
| Siuling: Then, you can simply say 哈囉 (haa1 lo3) "hello" or 嗨 (haai1) "hi." |
| Michael: They sound so similar to the English words. |
| Siuling: Yes, they're the loanwords from English! Usually, the first phrase most Cantonese learners learn is 你好 (nei5 hou2), which is "hello." It's definitely correct, but it sounds very formal and isn't generally used in daily life. |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then, repeat after Siuling focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how Ben says "Good morning?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Siuling: 早晨！ (zou2 san4!) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Siuling: 早晨！ (zou2 san4!) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Siuling: 早晨！ (zou2 san4!) |
| Michael: And do you remember how Lilian says "It's already 3 pm, you should say "Good afternoon?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Siuling: 已經下晝三點喇，應該講午安。 (ji5 ging1 haa6 zau3 saam1 dim2 laa3, jing1 goi1 gong2 ng5 on1.) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Siuling: 已經下晝三點喇，應該講午安。 (ji5 ging1 haa6 zau3 saam1 dim2 laa3, jing1 goi1 gong2 ng5 on1.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Siuling: 已經下晝三點喇，應該講午安。 (ji5 ging1 haa6 zau3 saam1 dim2 laa3, jing1 goi1 gong2 ng5 on1.) |
| Cultural Expansion |
| Michael: At the end of the day, there's one more expression we use to wish others a "good night," |
| Siuling: Yes, and that's 早唞 (zou2 tau2)! |
| Michael: Like its English counterpart, it's said before someone goes to bed. Can we hear it again? |
| Siuling: 早唞 (zou2 tau2), 早唞 (zou2 tau2). |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Siuling: 拜拜! (baai1 baai3!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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