Learn about Cantonese sentence-final particles
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Intro |
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| Michael: What are the sentence-final particles in Cantonese? |
| Siuling: And which ones are the most common? |
| Michael: At CantoneseClass101.com, we hear these questions often. In the following situation, Ashley Siu is asking his neighbor whether they'll join their party. Mark Lee wants to join, but seeks confirmation from his wife, Karen. First, Ashley asks, "Are you coming to our party?" |
| 蕭儀心: 你哋嚟唔嚟我哋個party呀？ (nei5 dei6 lei4 m4 lei4 ngo5 dei6 go3 party aa3?) |
| Dialogue |
| 蕭儀心: 你哋嚟唔嚟我哋個party呀？ (nei5 dei6 lei4 m4 lei4 ngo5 dei6 go3 party aa3?) |
| 李傑雷: 我哋去㗎，呵？ (ngo5 dei6 heoi3 gaa3, ho2?) |
| 李麗莉: 係呀，我哋會嚟㗎。(hai6 aa3, ngo5 dei6 wui5 lei4 gaa3.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| 蕭儀心: 你哋嚟唔嚟我哋個party呀？ (nei5 dei6 lei4 m4 lei4 ngo5 dei6 go3 party aa3?) |
| Michael: "Are you coming to our party?" |
| 李傑雷: 我哋去㗎，呵？ (ngo5 dei6 heoi3 gaa3, ho2?) |
| Michael: "We are going, right?" |
| 李麗莉: 係呀，我哋會嚟㗎。(hai6 aa3, ngo5 dei6 wui5 lei4 gaa3.) |
| Michael: "Yes, we're coming." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: You've probably noticed the particles at the end of each sentence. These are so-called |
| Siuling: 尾音 (mei5 jam1) |
| Michael: or sentence-final particles, and they're a significant element in Cantonese used to moderate the meaning of a sentence. |
| Siuling: Today, we will introduce you to some of them. |
| Michael: OK, let's take a closer look at the dialogue first. |
| Do you remember how Ashley Siu asks "Are you coming to our party?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Siuling: 你哋嚟唔嚟我哋個party呀？ (nei5 dei6 lei4 m4 lei4 ngo5 dei6 go3 party aa3?) |
| Michael: Here, Ashley uses a very common sentence-final particle |
| Siuling: 呀 (aa3) |
| Michael: This particle is sometimes used to soften the tone of affirmative statements, but here it's used to ask a neutral question. By using this particle, Ashley makes the question sounds more friendly. |
| Michael: Now let's take a look at our second sentence. Do you remember how Mark says, "We are going, right?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Siuling: 我哋去㗎，呵？ (ngo5 dei6 heoi3 gaa3, ho2?) |
| Michael: In this sentence, you can see two particles, |
| Siuling: 㗎 (gaa3) and 呵 (ho2). |
| 㗎 (gaa3) is a sentence-final particle that marks emphasis. |
| Michael: In this sentence, it emphasizes the phrase "we go." |
| Siuling: And, the second particle, 呵 (ho2), is a very useful sentence-final particle to check whether a statement is correct, it's similar to adding "right?" in English. |
| Siuling: 我哋去㗎，呵？ (ngo5 dei6 heoi3 gaa3, ho2?) |
| Michael: "We are going, right?" |
| And in the third sentence, Karen says, "Yes, we're coming." |
| Siuling: 係呀，我哋會嚟㗎。(hai6 aa3, ngo5 dei6 wui5 lei4 gaa3.) |
| Michael: Did you notice that she used two sentence-final particles that were previously used in the first and second sentences? |
| Siuling: The two particles are 呀 (aa3) and 㗎 (gaa3). |
| Michael: Here, the |
| Siuling: 呀 (aa3) |
| Michael: particle is used to soften the tone of the affirmative statement, "yes"; and |
| Siuling: 㗎 (gaa3) |
| Michael: emphasizes the phrase "we will come." |
| Siuling: 係呀，我哋會嚟㗎。(hai6 aa3, ngo5 dei6 wui5 lei4 gaa3.) |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: So, to sum it up. In a statement, the sentence-final particle |
| Siuling: 呀 (aa3) |
| Michael: is used to soften the tone; and it's often used to ask a neutral question. Can you give us some examples? |
| Siuling: Of course! Let's look at 你點呀？ (nei5 dim2 aa3?) "How are you?." |
| Without the sentence-final particle 呀 (aa3), it would be very abrupt and even sound rude. |
| Michael: And to emphasize, we use the sentence-final particle |
| Siuling: 㗎 (gaa3). |
| Michael: Lastly, to confirm a statement, like "right?" in English, we have |
| Siuling: 呵 (ho2). |
| Michael: These are not all the sentence-final particles in Cantonese. We aimed at covering only the most common ones and their most common usages. Don't worry about memorizing them all at once. If you are a beginner or lower intermediate student, then you should know and understand the three most common particles, which are... |
| Siuling: 呀 (aa3), 㗎 (gaa3), and 呵 (ho2). |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then, repeat after Siuling focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how Ashley says "Are you coming to our party?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Siuling: 你哋嚟唔嚟我哋個party呀？ (nei5 lei4 m4 lei4 ngo5 dei6 go3 party aa3?) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Siuling: 你哋嚟唔嚟我哋個party呀？ (nei5 lei4 m4 lei4 ngo5 dei6 go3 party aa3?) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Siuling: 你哋嚟唔嚟我哋個party呀？ (nei5 lei4 m4 lei4 ngo5 dei6 go3 party aa3?) |
| Michael: And do you remember how Mark says "We are going, right?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Siuling: 我哋去㗎，呵？ (ngo5 dei6 heoi3 gaa3, ho2?) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Siuling: 我哋去㗎，呵？ (ngo5 dei6 heoi3 gaa3, ho2?) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Siuling: 我哋去㗎，呵？ (ngo5 dei6 heoi3 gaa3, ho2?) |
| Michael: And how does Karen say "Yes, we're coming?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Siuling: 係呀，我哋會嚟㗎。(hai6 aa3, ngo5 dei6 wui5 lei4 gaa3.) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Siuling: 係呀，我哋會嚟㗎。(hai6 aa3, ngo5 dei6 wui5 lei4 gaa3.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Siuling: 係呀，我哋會嚟㗎。(hai6 aa3, ngo5 dei6 wui5 lei4 gaa3.) |
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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