Learn the many uses of the word 打
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hello and welcome to the Lower Beginner series at CantoneseClass101.com. This is Season 1, Lesson 19, Has Your Boss Gone MIA in Hong Kong? I’m Eric. |
| Teddy: 哈囉！(haa1 lo3!) And I’m Teddy! |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn some other uses for the verb "to hit"... |
| Teddy: ...which is 打 (daa2) in Cantonese. |
| Eric: The conversation takes place in an office between two colleagues, Olivia and Leslie. |
| Teddy: And as usual, the speakers will use casual Cantonese. |
| Eric: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Olivia: 波士未嚟嘅？(bo1 si2 mei6 lei4 ge2?) |
| Leslie: 打電話俾佢啦。(daa2 din6 waa2 bei2 keoi5 laa1). |
| Olivia 幾多號冧巴？(gei2 do1 hou6 lam1 baa2?) |
| Leslie: 唔知喎。(m4 zi1 wo3). |
| Eric: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Olivia: 波士未嚟嘅？(bo1 si2 mei6 lei4 ge2?) |
| Leslie 打電話俾佢啦。(daa2 din6 waa2 bei2 keoi5 laa1). |
| Olivia: 幾多號冧巴？(gei2 do1 hou6 lam1 baa2?) |
| Leslie 唔知喎。(m4 zi1 wo3). |
| Eric: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Olivia: 波士未嚟嘅？(bo1 si2 mei6 lei4 ge2?) |
| Eric: Is the boss still not here? |
| Leslie 打電話俾佢啦。(daa2 din6 waa2 bei2 keoi5 laa1). |
| Eric: Call him. |
| Olivia: 幾多號冧巴？(gei2 do1 hou6 lam1 baa2?) |
| Eric: What's his number? |
| Leslie: 唔知喎。(m4 zi1 wo3). |
| Eric: I don't know. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Nowadays, it seems that people hold meetings for everything. We used to work on our own and just hand in reports when they were completed, instead of having a lot of meetings. |
| Teddy: Well, I think meetings can serve a useful purpose. For example, brainstorming before writing a proposal is important. Also, sometimes we need to let everyone know about our progress on a project or remind other staff members about the company’s mission! |
| Eric: I think meetings are time consuming. |
| Teddy: Well, meetings should be efficient. Economists have suggested that meetings should be limited to one hour to be the most efficient. |
| Eric: I wouldn’t mind an hour meeting to conclude the week’s work quickly instead of writing a report. |
| Teddy: (laughs) Yes, but of course, a successful meeting all depends on the boss! |
| Eric: That’s true. Okay, now let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| 波士 (bo1 si2) [natural native speed] |
| boss |
| 波士 (bo1 si2) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 波士 (bo1 si2) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 未 (mei6) [natural native speed] |
| yet, never |
| 未 (mei6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 未 (mei6) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 打電話 (daa2 din6 waa2) [natural native speed] |
| to make a phone call |
| 打電話 (daa2 din6 waa2) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 打電話 (daa2 din6 waa2) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 嚟 (lei4 / lai4) [natural native speed] |
| to come |
| 嚟 (lei4 / lai4) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 嚟 (lei4 / lai4) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 俾 (bei2) [natural native speed] |
| to give |
| 俾 (bei2) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 俾 (bei2) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 佢 (keoi5) [natural native speed] |
| he, she, it |
| 佢 (keoi5) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 佢 (keoi5) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 幾多號 (gei2 do1 hou6) [natural native speed] |
| which number, what number |
| 幾多號 (gei2 do1 hou6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 幾多號 (gei2 do1 hou6) [natural native speed] |
| And Last: |
| 冧巴 (lam1 baa2) [natural native speed] |
| number |
| 冧巴 (lam1 baa2) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 冧巴 (lam1 baa2) [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 the first words? |
| Teddy: We’re going to look at two loanwords. |
| Eric: Right, in our last lesson, we talked about how Cantonese uses some words borrowed from English. These words sound similar to English and have the same meaning. |
| Teddy: Right, the first one in our dialogue was 波士 (bo1 si2). |
| Eric: Easy, "boss!" Just in case our listeners are curious, what does each character mean if you say them separately? |
| Teddy: The first character 波 (bo1) is actually a loanword as well, and it means "ball." And the second character 士 (si2) by itself means "scholar," but we usually see it in loanwords, as a transliteration of the "s" sound. For instance, 的士 (dik1 si2) for "taxi," and 貼士 (tip1 si2) for "tips." |
| Eric: Interesting. |
| Teddy: The next one is 冧巴 (lam1 baa2). |
| Eric: Obviously it means "number." Am I right? |
| Teddy: Yep, for example 電話冧巴 (din6 waa2 lam1 baa2). |
| Eric: "Telephone number." |
| Teddy: Or you can ask someone, 你幾多號冧巴? (nei5 gei2 do1 hou6 lam1 baa2?) |
| Eric: "What’s your number?" |
| Teddy: Isn’t it great that there are loanwords in Cantonese? That way it’s easier for English speakers to learn it! |
| Eric: Exactly! Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the verb "to hit" in different ways in Cantonese. |
| Teddy: Yes. "To hit" in Cantonese is 打 (daa2). When we want to say, "He hits me," we say, 佢打我 (keoi5 daa2 ngo5). When I am hit by someone, we say, 我俾人打 (ngo5 bei2 jan4 daa2). |
| Eric: Right, we learned about passive sentences like that in Lesson 11. |
| Teddy: Well, in this lesson, we’re going to focus on the verb 打 (daa2), "to hit." |
| Eric: It turns out this verb has a lot of different meanings when combined with different nouns. |
| Teddy: Yes, let’s start with something we heard from this lesson’s dialogue 打電話 (daa2 din6 waa2). Literally "to hit the telephone." Of course, we’re not really hitting the telephone; this term in English is actually translated as "to make a phone call," or "to call someone on the telephone." |
| Eric: Can you repeat the phrase please? |
| Teddy: 打電話 (daa2 din6 waa2). [pause] |
| Eric: Okay, what’s next? |
| Teddy: Well, 打 (daa2) literally means "to hit" or "to strike." But when it’s combined with ball games or some sort of recreation, it means "to play." |
| Eric: Can you give some examples? |
| Teddy: Sure! See, 籃球 (laam4 kau4) means "basketball," so 打籃球 (daa2 laam4 kau4) means "to play basketball." 棒球 (paang5 kau4) means "baseball," so 打棒球 (daa2 paang5 kau4) is... |
| Eric: "To play baseball." |
| Teddy: Right. Other than ball games, there’s a very common term that my cousin loves, 打機 (daa2 gei1). |
| Eric: What does the second word here mean? |
| Teddy: 機 (gei1) normally means "machine," or "electronic appliances." But in this case, it means "video games." |
| Eric: Oh, so it means "to play video games." |
| Teddy: Yes. You are so smart! |
| Eric: Are there any more combinations that use the verb "to hit?" |
| Teddy: There’s one common phrase that a lot of Hong Kong people love to hear – 打麻雀 (daa2 maa4 zoek3 ), or "to play mahjong." Have you ever heard of this game? |
| Eric: Yes. And I really want to learn how to play! |
| Teddy: Seriously? |
| Eric: Yes. Can you teach me later? |
| Teddy: Of course! So let’s wrap up this lesson and go 打麻雀 (daa2 maa4 zoek3). |
| Eric: Okay! But before we go, please repeat the phrases we talked about in this lesson’s grammar point. Listeners, please repeat after Teddy. |
| Teddy: 打電話 (daa2 din6 waa2). [pause] |
| Eric: "To make a phone call." |
| Teddy: 打籃球 (daa2 laam4 kau4). [pause] |
| Eric: "To play basketball." |
| Teddy: 打棒球 (daa2 paang5 kau4). [pause] |
| Eric: "To play baseball.” |
| Teddy: 打機 (daa2 gei1). [pause] |
| Eric: "To play video games." |
| Teddy: 打麻雀 (daa2 maa4 zoek3). [pause] |
| Eric: "To play mahjong." |
| Teddy: Listeners, remember to check out the lesson notes for more examples. |
Outro |
| Eric: Well, that’s it for this lesson. Thank you for listening! Goodbye! |
| Teddy: 拜拜！(baai1 baai3!) |
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