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Lesson Transcript

nei5 ho2, ngo5 hai6 Olivia. Hi everybody! I’m Olivia.
Welcome to CantoneseClass101.com’s “saam1 fan1 zung1 gwong2 dung1 waa2”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Cantonese.
In the last three lessons, we learned the main usages of the verb “to be” in Cantonese: hai6 and hai2. And their negative expressions.
In this lesson, we are going to learn the basic usage of the verb jau5, which means “to have”, as well as its negative expression.
Let’s say, if someone asks “do you have a car?”
nei5 jau5 mou5 ce1?
[slowly] nei5 jau5 mou5 ce1?
Let’s take a closer look at this question.
nei5, you should know this now, is “you”.
jau5 mou5, is “to have or not have”
ce1, means “car”
So if you *do* have a car, how can you answer this question?
Just say “jau5”—it could not be more simple!
If you don’t have a car, we don’t say 唔有 like you might expect. Instead, we have a special word which means “not have”: “mou5”. This is the exact opposite of jau5 ”to have”.
[slowly] mou5
So, if someone wants to ask for some change, he’ll ask nei5 jau5 mou5 seoi3 ngan2? which means “Do you have any coins?” in Cantonese.
[slowly] nei5 jau5 mou5 seoi3 ngan2?
To answer, simply use jau5 or mou5 like the above example. Or add some details, like:
ngo5 jau5 go3 ng5 man1 ngan2. “I have a 5 dollar coin.”
Let’s break it down:
ngo5 “I”
jau5 “have”
go3 “(measure word)”
ng5 man1 ngan2 “5 dollar coin”
[J cu]
If you don’t remember about the Cantonese measure words, please check Lesson 9.
Now it’s time for Olivia’s tips
The phrase jau5 mou5 is actually very useful, other than “do you have” questions, it can also be used in other questions like “is there any”, “have you been”, “will there be”, etc.
So keep it in mind and we’ll discuss this phrase again in future lessons.
Get ready for the next lesson because we are going to study a really important part of the Cantonese language: using adjectives.
I'll be waiting for you in the next “saam1 fan1 zung1 gwong2 dung1 waa2”.
Haa6 ci3 gin3!

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