Learn five words related to housework
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| Hi guys, welcome to Cantonese weekly words. My name is Olivia and today, we are going to talk about Housework, 家務 (gaa1 mou6). |
| Do you like doing housework? And which chore do you hate the most? Let’s see if it’s one of the following five. Here we go. |
| 1. 掃地 (sou3 dei6) "To sweep" |
| 掃 (sou3) is, like, "to sweep something"; and 地 (dei6) is "floor." |
| So "to sweep the floor," 掃地 (sou3 dei6) |
| 快啲掃地啦，好多塵呀！ |
| (faai3 di1 sou3 dei6 laa1, hou2 do1 can4 aa3!) |
| "It's so dusty, sweep the floor!" |
| I see a dust bunny. |
| Next word is... |
| 2. 抹 (maat3) "To wipe" |
| So this is the cloth I used for wiping the dishes and table and this is for wiping the floor. |
| 抹地布 (maat3 dei6 bou3), and this is 抹碗布 (maat3 wun2 bou3). |
| 抹 (maat3) is "to wipe," |
| 地 (dei6) is "floor," |
| 布 (bou3) is "cloth." |
| 唔好撈亂抹地布同抹碗布。 |
| (m4 hou2 lou1 lyun6 maat3 dei6 bou3 tung4 maat3 wun2 bou3.) |
| "Do not mix up the cloth you use to wipe the floor and the cloth you use for wiping the table." |
| Yeah. Don’t. |
| Next word is... |
| 3. 洗 (sai2) "To wash" |
| 洗手 |
| (sai2 sau2) |
| "Wash your hands" |
| 洗面 |
| (sai2 min6) |
| "Wash your face" |
| 洗碗 |
| (sai2 wun2) |
| "Do the dishes" |
| 洗地 |
| (sai2 dei6) |
| "Wash the floor" |
| 洗車 |
| (sai2 ce1) |
| "Wash the car" |
| You can wash a lot of things. |
| Actually, 洗錢 (sai2 cin2) is my favorite because it means "to spend money." |
| 洗錢 (sai2 cin2) |
| I don’t know why it’s literally "wash the money" but "to spend money" is 洗錢 (sai2 cin2). |
| So you can 洗手 (sai2 sau2), you can 洗錢 (sai2 cin2), you can 洗面 (sai2 min6), you can 洗車 (sai2 ce1). |
| 一個禮拜洗三次衫。 |
| (jat1 go3 lai5 baai3 sai2 saam1 ci3 saam1.) |
| "Do laundry three times a week." |
| Next is... |
| 4. 執房 (zap1 fong2) "To tidy up the room" |
| 有朋友嚟，快啲執房啦！ |
| (jau5 pang4 jau5 lei4, faai3 di1 zap1 fong2 laa1!) |
| "Friends are coming over; we have to tidy up the room!" |
| So, if it was a bigger house, you can say 執屋 (zap1 uk1). |
| 屋 (uk1) is "house." |
| So, 執房 (zap1 fong2) "to clean, to tidy up the room"; |
| 執屋 (zap1 uk1) "to clean and tidy up the whole house" |
| Or you can also say 執正個人／執正自己 |
| (zap1 zeng3 go3 jan4 / zap1 zeng3 zi6 gei2) |
| It means "to tidy up yourself to make it presentable." |
| For example, when you go to an interview, |
| 去面試要執正啲。 |
| (heoi3 min6 si2 jiu3 zap1 zeng3 di1.) |
| "Tidy up like clean up yourself before going to an interview." |
| 5. 揼垃圾 (dam2 laap6 saap3) "To take out the garbage; to throw away the garbage" |
| 揼垃圾 (dam2 laap6 saap3) |
| It kind of sounds like when a rock falls into the water. Dum! |
| I don’t know, it’s just the action of throwing things, 揼(dam2). |
| 逢星期一三五要揼垃圾。 |
| (fung4 sing1 kei4 jat1 saam1 ng5 jiu3 dam2 laap6 saap3.) |
| "We have to take out the garbage every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday." |
| So here we skip (the extra) 星期(sing1 kei4). |
| 星期(sing1 kei4) means "week" |
| 星期一 (sing1 kei4 jat1) "Monday" |
| 星期一 (sing1 kei4 saam1) "Wednesday" |
| 星期一 (sing1 kei4 ng5) "Friday" |
| But in this case, it is understood that we are talking about the days of the week. So we can just say 逢(fung4), like, "every" |
| 逢(fung4) means "every". |
| So, 逢一三五 (fung4 sing1 kei4 jat1 saam1 ng5) "Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday." |
| The end. That’s it for today. Today, we talked about housework. How do you like the words? Which housework do you hate the most or you love the most. Let us know in the comments section, please. And I will see you next time in other videos. My name is Olivia. 下次見 (haa6 ci3 gin3), see you next time. Bye! |
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