Learn to ask, "How much?"
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| 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 lessons we learned how to count in Cantonese. I hope you spent some time practicing the numbers, because they will come in handy today. We’re going to learn how to go shopping in Hong Kong! |
| Before we go, you need to know how to say “How much is it?” |
| gei2 cin2 aa3? |
| [slowly] gei2 cin2 aa3? |
| Are you ready to go shopping in Hong Kong? Let’s go! |
| You see something you like and want to ask the shop clerk how much it costs. The first thing to say is…m4 goi1, do you remember what that means? "Excuse me!" |
| m4 goi1, gei2 cin2 aa3? |
| [slowly] m4 goi1, gei2 cin2 aa3? |
| If we want to be more specific and ask "how much is THIS?", first we need to know the correct measure word for the object, we’ll learn about that in the next lesson. For now, let’s use the most common one: go3, so in the sentence we’d say ji1 go3 as “this”, followed by “how much?”. |
| m4 goi1, ji1 go3 gei2 cin2 aa3? |
| [slowly] m4 goi1, ji1 go3 gei2 cin2 aa3? |
| “Excuse me, how much is this?” |
| And to ask “Excuse me, how much is THAT?”, again we’ll use the most common measure word go3, so to say “that”, it’d be go2 go3. |
| m4 goi1, go2 go3 gei2 cin2 aa3? |
| [slowly] m4 goi1, go2 go3 gei2 cin2 aa3? |
| At this point the shop clerk will answer directly with the price, followed by man1, the slang term for Hong Kong dollar. |
| For example: |
| saam1 sap6 gau2 man1 |
| What number is saam1 sap6 gau2? I’m not telling you! Okay, okay, it’s "thirty-nine"! "It costs thirty-nine HKD." |
| Now it’s time for Olivia’s Insights. |
| It’s quite common to bargain in markets. Other than saying the specific price you want, you can also just ask for a cheaper price by saying: |
| peng4 di1 laa1. |
| [slowly] peng4 di1 laa1. |
| In small boutiques or shops, you can ask “are there any discounts” by saying: |
| jau5 mou5 zit3 aa3? |
| [slowly] jau5 mou5 zit3 aa3? |
| In this lesson, we learned the generic measure word go3. In the next lesson, we’ll learn more about what these measure words are and how to use them |
| I’ll be waiting for you in our next “saam1 fan1 zung1 gwong2 dung1 waa2” lesson. |
| Haa6 ci3 gin3! |
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