Learn how to use 至 with an adjective meaning the "most"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hello and welcome back to CantoneseClass101.com. This is Lower Beginner, season 1, lesson 6, What’s the Most Famous Dish at this Cantonese Restaurant? I’m Becky. |
| Olivia: 哈囉！(haa1 lo3!) And I’m Olivia! |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask for recommendations. |
| Olivia: The conversation takes place at a Hong Kong restaurant... |
| Becky: ...between a waiter and a customer. |
| Olivia: And as usual, the speakers will be using casual Cantonese. |
| Becky: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 客人: 呢度至好食係乜？(HAAK3 JAN4: ni1 dou6 zi3 hou2 sik6 hai6 mat1?) |
| 侍應: 我哋啲叉燒至出名。(SI6 JING3: ngo5 dei6 di1 caa1 siu1 zi3 ceot1 meng2.) |
| 客人: 咁我要一碟叉燒啦。(HAAK3 JAN4: gam2 ngo5 jiu3 jat1 dip6 caa1 siu1 laa1.) |
| 侍應: 多謝晒。(SI6 JING3: do1 ze6 saai3.) |
| Becky: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| 客人: 呢度至好食係乜？(HAAK3 JAN4: ni1 dou6 zi3 hou2 sik6 hai6 mat1?) |
| 侍應: 我哋啲叉燒至出名。(SI6 JING3: ngo5 dei6 di1 caa1 siu1 zi3 ceot1 meng2.) |
| 客人: 咁我要一碟叉燒啦。(HAAK3 JAN4: gam2 ngo5 jiu3 jat1 dip6 caa1 siu1 laa1.) |
| 侍應: 多謝晒。(SI6 JING3: do1 ze6 saai3.) |
| Becky: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| 客人: 呢度至好食係乜？(HAAK3 JAN4: ni1 dou6 zi3 hou2 sik6 hai6 mat1?) |
| Becky: What is the best food here? |
| 侍應: 我哋啲叉燒至出名。(SI6 JING3: ngo5 dei6 di1 caa1 siu1 zi3 ceot1 meng2.) |
| Becky: Our barbecued pork is the most famous here. |
| 客人: 咁我要一碟叉燒啦。(HAAK3 JAN4: gam2 ngo5 jiu3 jat1 dip6 caa1 siu1 laa1.) |
| Becky: Then I'll have one plate of barbecued pork. |
| 侍應: 多謝晒。(SI6 JING3: do1 ze6 saai3.) |
| Becky: Thank you very much. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Olivia, do you usually ask for recommendations before you order at a restaurant? |
| Olivia: Yes, if it’s a restaurant I’ve never been to, I will ask what their most famous dish is. And for restaurants that I’ve been to, I’ll ask what is fresh and their special of the day. |
| Becky: Do they usually give good suggestions? |
| Olivia: Well, I’ve had good and bad experiences. |
| Becky: What were the good experiences? |
| Olivia: I like to order something they recommend, because often the ingredients seem to be fresh. Sometimes the daily special is a good deal and the food comes fast. |
| Becky: How about a bad experience? |
| Olivia: There were occasions where I visited a famous restaurant and ordered their most famous dish, but it was very disappointing, and it was very expensive too. |
| Becky: That’s a shame. I usually go online and look for food reviews beforehand. |
| Olivia: That's a good idea! |
| Becky: Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| 呢度 (ni1 dou6) [natural native speed] |
| here |
| 呢度 (ni1 dou6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 呢度 (ni1 dou6) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 出名 (ceot1 meng2) [natural native speed] |
| famous |
| 出名 (ceot1 meng2) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 出名 (ceot1 meng2) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 碟 (dip6) [natural native speed] |
| plate, plate of |
| 碟 (dip6) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 碟 (dip6) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 叉燒 (caa1 siu1) [natural native speed] |
| barbecued pork |
| 叉燒 (caa1 siu1) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 叉燒 (caa1 siu1) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 咁 (gam2) [natural native speed] |
| so, then |
| 咁 (gam2) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 咁 (gam2) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 侍應 (si6 jing3) [natural native speed] |
| waiter, waitress |
| 侍應 (si6 jing3) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 侍應 (si6 jing3) [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| 客人 (haak3 jan4) [natural native speed] |
| customer, client |
| 客人 (haak3 jan4) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 客人 (haak3 jan4) [natural native speed] |
| And Last: |
| 多謝晒 (do1 ze6 saai3) [natural native speed] |
| Thank you very much. (formal) |
| 多謝晒 (do1 ze6 saai3) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| 多謝晒 (do1 ze6 saai3) [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. What are we starting with? |
| Olivia: 出名 (ceot1 meng2) |
| Becky: What can you tell us about this? |
| Olivia: 出 (ceot1) normally means “out”, as in 出入 (ceot1 jap6), ”out and in”. |
| Becky: In English, we usually say “in and out”, and in Cantonese, it’s the other way around. |
| Olivia: Yes. In this phrase, 出 (ceot1) implies “coming out”. 名 (ming4) is “name”. When you put them together, it implies the idea that “the name is coming out”, meaning “famous”, 出名(ceot1 meng2.) |
| Becky: Being famous! |
| Olivia: Yes. You're famous, 你好出名! (nei5 hou2 ceot1 meng2!) |
| Becky: Really? I'm famous? Great! Thank you!! Can you repeat that? |
| Olivia: 出名 (ceot1 meng2)[pause] 出名 (ceot1 meng2) |
| Becky: Famous! |
| Olivia: The next word we're learning in this lesson is 碟 (dip6). |
| Becky: What does that mean? |
| Olivia: 碟 (dip6) by itself means “plate; or dish”, but it's also the classifier. You can use it as “a plate of” or “a dish of” something, for example, “a dish of fried rice” 一碟炒飯 (jat1 dip6 caau2 faan6). |
| Becky: I see. How do you say “a dish of fish” then? |
| Olivia: 一碟魚. (jat1 dip6 jyu2.) |
| Becky: A dish of chicken? |
| Olivia: 一碟雞. (jat1 dip6 gai1.) |
| Becky: That seems easy! Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll how to use the superlative state of a description. |
| Olivia: In Cantonese, we use 至 (zi3) for the superlative state. |
| Becky: Can you repeat the phrases from the dialogue? |
| Olivia: There are two of them, 至好食 (zi3 hou2 sik6) and 至出名(zi3 ceot1 meng2). |
| Becky: “The most delicious” and “the most famous” |
| Olivia: Right, in which 至(zi3 ) means “the most”, and is always followed by an adjective, like 好食 (hou2 sik6) “delicious; yummy”, and 出名 (ceot1 meng2) “famous”. |
| Becky: I see, so if I know the adjective “expensive”, now I know how to say “the most expensive”! |
| Olivia: Exactly, it’s 至貴 (zi3 gwai3). |
| Becky: How about “the most beautiful”? |
| Olivia: “Beautiful” is 靚 (leng3), so “the most beautiful” is 至靚 (zi3 leng3). |
| Becky: Oh! Thank you Olivia, that’s so nice of you! (laughs) So for some adjectives in English, we'll add “–est” at the end of the word to imply the superlative degree. How do you do that in Cantonese? |
| Olivia: It’s easy in Cantonese. You just add 至 (zi3) before the adjectives. |
| Becky: What about for “cheapest”? |
| Olivia: Since “cheap” is 平(peng4)﹔”the cheapest” will be 至平 (zi3 peng4). |
| Becky: And how about “the biggest”? |
| Olivia: “big” is 大 (daai6)﹔so ”the biggest” is 至大(zi3 daai6). |
| Becky: How about for “the most” as in “I have the most”. |
| Olivia: 多(do1) means “many”. So 至多(zi3 do1), is literally “the most many”, and it means “the most”. 至多(zi3 do1)。 |
| Becky: Olivia, is this the only word you use for the superlative degree? |
| Olivia: There's another word that's very similar to 至(zi3), and we’ve talked about it previously in our Absolute Beginner series lessons. |
| Becky: Can you remind us what it is? |
| Olivia: It’s 最(zeoi3). |
| Becky: So it also means “the most”? |
| Olivia: Yes. 最 (zeoi3) is used in spoken and written forms for “the most”. |
| Becky: And it’s also used before adjectives? |
| Olivia: Yes. You can apply this in the same way as 至(zi3). |
| Becky: Can you give some examples please? |
| Olivia: 最大 (zeoi3 daai6) means “the biggest” and 最多 (zeoi3 do1) means “the most”. |
| Becky: So for the sentences in our dialogue, can you use this word? |
| Olivia: Yes, 至好食﹐最好食. (zi3 hou2 sik6, zeoi3 hou2 sik6.) |
| Becky: How about “the most famous dish is barbequed pork”? |
| Olivia: 叉燒至出名﹐ 叉燒最出名 (caa1 siu1 zi3 ceot1 meng2, caa1 siu1 zeoi3 ceot1 meng2) |
| Becky: Which one do you like better? |
| Olivia: Either one is fine in conversation, but 至 (zi3) is more colloquial, and can't be used in writing, so I think it’s more unique to Cantonese. |
| Becky: I see, so you’d sound more like a native. |
| Olivia: Exactly! |
Outro |
| Becky: Well listeners, that’s all for this lesson. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. Bye! |
| Olivia: 拜拜！(baai1 baai3!) |
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