Learn how to tell someone not to do something
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hello and welcome to the Lower Beginner series at CantoneseClass101.com. This is season 1, lesson 10, A Scary Situation in Hong Kong. I’m Eric. |
| Teddy: 哈囉！(haa1 lo3!) And I’m Teddy. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to command others not to do something. |
| Teddy: This conversation takes place in a dark alley... |
| Eric: ...between a robber and a victim. |
| Teddy: And the speakers will be using casual Cantonese. |
| Eric: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 賊 : 咪郁，打劫！(CAAK2: mai5 juk1, daa2 gip3!) |
| 受害人: 救命呀！ (SAU6 HOI6 JAN4: gau3 meng6 aa3!) |
| 賊 : 咪嘈！ (CAAK2: mai5 cou4!) |
| Eric: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| 賊 : 咪郁，打劫！(CAAK2: mai5 juk1, daa2 gip3!) |
| 受害人: 救命呀！ (SAU6 HOI6 JAN4: gau3 meng6 aa3!) |
| 賊 : 咪嘈！ (CAAK2: mai5 cou4!) |
| Eric: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| 賊 : 咪郁，打劫！(CAAK2: mai5 juk1, daa2 gip3!) |
| Eric: Don't move, it's a robbery! |
| 受害人: 救命呀！ (SAU6 HOI6 JAN4: gau3 meng6 aa3!) |
| Eric: Help! |
| 賊 : 咪嘈！ (CAAK2: mai5 cou4!) |
| Eric: Don't make any noise! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Have you ever been robbed before? |
| Teddy: No, but I have been pick-pocketed. |
| Eric: Where did it happen? |
| Teddy: I was at the book expo, and I didn’t notice until I left. |
| Eric: So is this quite common in Hong Kong? |
| Teddy: It’s always very busy on the street, and sometimes people stand very close to each other in the expo or lining up to get on a bus. |
| Eric: So you should be careful with your wallet when you’re out. So did you report it to the police? |
| Teddy: No I didn’t, because I didn’t lose my Hong Kong ID card, but I lost my credit cards. |
| Eric: That's too bad. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| 咪 (mai5) [natural native speed] |
| don't |
| 咪 (mai5) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 咪 (mai5) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 郁 (juk1) [natural native speed] |
| to move |
| 郁 (juk1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 郁 (juk1) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 打劫 (daa2 gip3) [natural native speed] |
| robbery, to rob |
| 打劫 (daa2 gip3) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 打劫 (daa2 gip3) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 救命 (gau3 meng6) [natural native speed] |
| help |
| 救命 (gau3 meng6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 救命 (gau3 meng6) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 嘈 (cou4) [natural native speed] |
| noisy, to make noise |
| 嘈 (cou4) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 嘈 (cou4) [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. What are we starting with? |
| Teddy: 嘈 (cou4) |
| Eric: What can you tell us about this? |
| Teddy: 嘈 (cou4) means “noisy” as an adjective, or “to make noise” as a verb. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example of each? |
| Teddy: Sure! 好嘈 (hou2 cou4) meaning “very noisy” is a common phrase, in which 嘈 (cou4) is an adjective. While 咪嘈 (mai5 cou4), which we heard in the dialog, uses its verb form, and means “don’t make any noise”, or “shut up”. |
| Eric: I see. What’s our next key phrase? |
| Teddy: This one is an important phrase everyone should learn. It will save your life, it’s 救命! (gau3 meng6!) |
| Eric: It means “HELP!” But what does each word means? |
| Teddy: 救 (gau3) means “to save” and 命 (meng6) means “life”. 救命(gau3 meng6) together means “to save life”. When you call 救命呀 (gau3 meng6 aa3) out loud, people will know that you are in danger or you need help. |
| Eric: Oh, I have to remember this. It’s a very useful phrase. Listeners, repeat after Teddy. |
| Teddy: 救命 (gau3 meng6) [pause] |
| Eric: “Help!” Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to say “don’t”. |
| Teddy: It’s very easy, just put 咪 (mai5) in front of the verb. |
| Eric: Can you give some examples using the verbs we've learned before? |
| Teddy: Sure. We’ve learned 食 (sik6) “to eat”, so “don’t eat” in Cantonese is 咪食 (mai5 sik6). I always hear people saying 咪食咁多(mai5 sik6 gam3 do1), do you know what it means? |
| Eric: Let me guess, “don’t eat so much”, is that right? |
| Teddy: Bingo! You’re very smart! |
| Eric: So let’s try with some other verbs now. How do we say “don’t play”? |
| Teddy: 玩 (waan2) is “to play”, so “don’t play” is 咪玩 (mai5 waan2). |
| Eric: How about “don’t go”? |
| Teddy: 走 (zau2) means “to go”, or “to run”, so 咪走 (mai5 zau2) means “don’t go”, or when the police are chasing a criminal, they say 咪走 (mai5 zau2) as in “Freeze!” |
| Eric: I see, so in this case it literally means “don’t run!” |
| Teddy: Right, in our dialogue, the robber gave commands to the victim twice. |
| Eric: “Don’t move”, and “Don’t make any noise!” |
| Teddy: which are 咪郁 (mai5 juk1) and 咪嘈 (mai5 cou4) respectively. |
| Eric: Do these two phrases only apply to this case? As in, are they mostly used by criminals? |
| Teddy: Not at all! We use these phrases normally, for instance when you’re trying to take a photo and you say 咪郁 (mai5 juk1) to ask the person not to move so you can take a good photo. |
| Eric: Or when students are too noisy in a classroom… |
| Teddy: Then you can say 咪嘈 (mai5 cou4) to ask them to keep quiet. |
| Eric: Okay, I get it now! Can you say the phrases again? Listeners, repeat after Teddy. |
| Teddy: 咪郁! (mai5 juk1!) [pause] |
| Eric: “Don’t move!” |
| Teddy: 咪嘈! (mai5 cou4!) [pause] |
| Eric: “Don’t make any noise!”, or “Shut up!” |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay listeners, that’s all for this lesson. Remember to check the lesson notes for more details and sample sentences! We’ll see you next time, bye! |
| Teddy: 拜拜! (baai1 baai3 !) |
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