Learn how to take a train
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| 大家好(daai6 gaa1 hou2)! Hello and welcome to Cantonese Survival phrases brought to you by cantoneseclass101.com, my name is Nicole and I will be your language teacher and culture guide throughout this course. This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Hong Kong or anywhere else in the Cantonese world. You will be surprised at how far a little Cantonese will go. Now before we jump in, remember to stop by cantoneseclass101.com and there you will find the accompanying PDF and additional info in this post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. |
| Cantonese Survival phrases lesson 25, Riding the Rails. In Hong Kong, riding the subway is one of the best choices you can make to get around and reach all the most important parts of the city. Today, we are going to cover how to get on the subway. Just like for the bus pass, for the subway, you could buy the ticket from the machines located near the station. Just in case you get too confused and have to ask for the station attendant, we have prepared this lesson for you. Now let’s go and see how to get our subway ticket. As you can remember from the previous lessons covering how to get a bus ticket, we can accomplish this by asking, excuse me, a subway ticket please. 唔該, 一張飛去(m4 goi1, jat1 zoeng1 fei1 heoi3 ). Let’s hear it again 唔該, 一張飛去(m4 goi1, jat1 zoeng1 fei1 heoi3 ). |
| Now if you break this down, firstly we have 唔該(m4 goi1) which means excuse me or please. 一張飛(jat1 zoeng1 fei1) it’s one ticket 一張飛(jat1 zoeng1 fei1). Now this is exactly the same phrase that we learned in previous lesson about asking for a bus ticket 一張飛(jat1 zoeng1 fei1). And we can use this 一張飛(jat1 zoeng1 fei1) to ask for a bus ticket, a plane ticket, a subway ticket or a ticket to a concert or a phone ticket. 一張飛(jat1 zoeng1 fei1) And it’s followed by 去(heoi3) which means to go 去(heoi3) to go. And after that, simply add in your destination. Let’s say 尖沙咀(zim1 saa1 zeoi2) which is one of the greatest spots in Hong Kong 尖沙咀(zim1 saa1 zeoi2), 尖沙咀(zim1 saa1 zeoi2). Now let’s hear the whole sentence again 唔該, 一張飛去尖沙咀(m4 goi1, jat1 zoeng1 fei1 heoi3 zim1 saa1 zeoi2). Now let’s hear the whole sentence one more time slowly 唔 該, 一 張 飛 去 尖 沙 咀(m4 goi1, jat1 zoeng1 fei1 heoi3 zim1 saa1 zeoi2). Excuse me, one ticket to 尖沙咀(zim1 saa1 zeoi2). Now as you can see, this sentence doesn’t change at all from – and if you want to make it clear, you can add in the word for subway 地鐵(dei6 tit3). Now let’s hear it again 地鐵(dei6 tit3). It’s literally ground steel 地鐵(dei6 tit3) and we can add in ticket after that 飛(fei1), 飛(fei1). So together we have 地鐵飛(dei6 tit3 fei1) subway ticket 地鐵飛(dei6 tit3 fei1) subway ticket. What if it’s a bus ticket. We have the word for bus 巴士(baa1 si2). Let’s hear it again 巴士(baa1 si2) and then we have ticket 飛(fei1), 飛(fei1). |
| So bus ticket will be 巴士飛(baa1 si2 fei1) bus ticket 巴士飛(baa1 si2 fei1) bus ticket but I am sure saying 飛(fei1) alone is enough because it’s very clear. When you are in the subway station, you will be asking for the subway ticket and when you are on the bus, you will be asking for the bus ticket 飛(fei1). That’s the word for ticket. Now let’s try a new location today for practice. Today’s location is 上環(soeng6 waan4) in Hong Kong Island. Let’s hear it again上環(soeng6 waan4) in Hong Kong Island. Let’s imagine you need to go to Causeway Bay to Sheung Wan and you want to take a subway. When in the subway station, you can say 唔 該, 一 張 飛 去上環(m4 goi1, jat1 zoeng1 fei1 heoi3 soeng6 waan4). Excuse me or please, one ticket to上環(soeng6 waan4) and if you want two tickets, you can always replace 一(jat1) with 兩(loeng3). So the sentence becomes 唔 該, 兩 張 飛 去上環(m4 goi1, loeng3 zoeng1 fei1 heoi3 soeng6 waan4). |
| Now let’s learn something new today. You can ask what line you have to take to get there by saying 唔該, 搭邊條線去上環(m4 goi1, daap3 bin1 tiu4 sin3 heoi3 soeng6 waan4). Now let’s hear it one more time 唔該, 搭邊條線去上環(m4 goi1, daap3 bin1 tiu4 sin3 heoi3 soeng6 waan4) which is literally translated as, excuse me, take what line to go to Sheung Wan. You are asking what line you need to take to get to Sheung Wan. Now let’s hear the sentence one more time 唔該, 搭邊條線去上環(m4 goi1, daap3 bin1 tiu4 sin3 heoi3 soeng6 waan4). Now let’s hear it one more time 唔該, 搭邊條線去上環(m4 goi1, daap3 bin1 tiu4 sin3 heoi3 soeng6 waan4). If you break these down, firstly we have 唔該(m4 goi1) which means excuse me or please and then we have the word 搭(daap3). It means to take. You can take a bus, take a subway or take a plane. So you can 搭巴士(daap3 baa1 si2) take a bus, 搭地鐵(daap3 dei6 tit3) take the subway or 搭飛機(daap3 fei1 gei1) take the plane. Here we only use the verb 搭(daap3) and it’s followed by 邊條線(bin1 tiu4 sin3). Let’s hear it again 邊條線(bin1 tiu4 sin3). which line. 邊(bin1) is which one or what 邊(bin1). It uses a high flat tone 邊(bin1) and it’s followed by the measure word 條(tiu4), 條(tiu4). This is the measure word for lines 條(tiu4) and finally we have the word for line 線(sin3), 線(sin3). It uses mid flat tone 線(sin3). |
| Well, let’s hear the whole phrase again 邊條線(bin1 tiu4 sin3) which line 邊條線(bin1 tiu4 sin3) which line. And the whole sentence sounds like this 唔該, 搭邊條線去上環(m4 goi1, daap3 bin1 tiu4 sin3 heoi3 soeng6 waan4). Excuse me, what line do I need to take to get to Sheung Wan? 唔該, 搭邊條線去上環(m4 goi1, daap3 bin1 tiu4 sin3 heoi3 soeng6 waan4). And you’ve noticed, after saying 搭邊條線(daap3 bin1 tiu4 sin3) take what line, we have the verb 去(heoi3) which means to go 去(heoi3) to go. Now we should be familiar with this 去(heoi3) by now because we’ve come across this 去(heoi3) a couple of times in previous lessons. It means to go and it’s always followed by the name of the place like 去上環(heoi3 soeng6 waan4) to go to Sheung Wan. 去尖沙咀(heoi3 zim1 saa1 zeoi2). To go to 尖沙咀(zim1 saa1 zeoi2)or 去天星碼頭(heoi3 tin1 sing1 maa5 tau4) to go to the Star Ferry port. Now in this sentence, we have 唔該(m4 goi1) excuse me. 搭邊條線去上環(daap3 bin1 tiu4 sin3 heoi3 soeng6 waan4) excuse me, to take what line to go to Sheung Wan and they will usually tell you line 1 or line 2 一號線(jat1 hou5 sin3) or 二號線(ji6 hou5 sin3). You just have to pay attention to the number and you are very likely to hear 搭藍線(daap3 laam4 sin3) take the blue line or 搭紅線(daap3 hung4 sin3) take the red line. Now let’s hear it again 搭藍線(daap3 laam4 sin3), take the blue line. Now the word for blue is 藍(laam4), 藍(laam4). It uses the lowest flat tone 藍(laam4), 搭藍線(daap3 laam4 sin3). Take blue line 搭藍線(daap3 laam4 sin3) or 搭紅線(daap3 hung4 sin3) take the red line. The word for red is 紅(hung4), 紅(hung4). So 搭紅線(daap3 hung4 sin3) take the red line. |
| As you can see, the phrase is very short and implies already you need to. So as we mentioned before, in Cantonese, we usually start a sentence with a verb instead of a noun or the subject and in this case 搭藍線(daap3 laam4 sin3) take the blue line or 搭紅線(daap3 hung4 sin3) take the red line. Also in the question, we learned today 搭邊條線?(daap3 bin1 tiu4 sin3)to take which line. It starts with a verb 搭(daap3) to take. All right, let’s have a quick review of what we’ve learned today. First we learned how to ask for a ticket. Excuse me, one ticket please, excuse me, one ticket please 唔該, 一張飛(m4 goi1, jat1 zoeng1 fei1), 唔該, 一張飛(m4 goi1, jat1 zoeng1 fei1) or excuse me, one ticket to Sheung Wan 唔 該, 一 張 飛 去上環(m4 goi1, jat1 zoeng1 fei1 heoi3 soeng6 waan4). Next we have, what line do I need to take for Sheung Wan? 唔該, 搭邊條線 去上環(m4 goi1, daap3 bin1 tiu4 sin3 heoi3 soeng6 waan4). Let’s hear it again 唔該, 搭邊條線 去上環(m4 goi1, daap3 bin1 tiu4 sin3 heoi3 soeng6 waan4) and they will tell you, you need to take the blue line 搭藍線(daap3 laam4 sin3) take the blue line 搭藍線(daap3 laam4 sin3). |
| All right, before we go, we would like you to practice what you’ve just learned. I will as always provide you with the English translation of the phrase and we are responsible for shouting it out loud. You have a few seconds before I give you the answers. 加 油(gaa1 jau2)! Excuse me, one ticket please 唔該, 一張飛(m4 goi1, jat1 zoeng1 fei1). Excuse me, one ticket to Sheung Wan 唔 該, 一 張 飛 去上環(m4 goi1, jat1 zoeng1 fei1 heoi3 soeng6 waan4). To take the bus 搭巴士(daap3 baa1 si2) To take the subway 搭地鐵(daap3 dei6 tit3). What line do I need to take to get to Sheung Wan? 搭邊條線去上環?(daap3 bin1 tiu4 sin3 heoi3 soeng6 waan4). You need to take the blue line 搭藍線(daap3 laam4 sin3). All right, that about does it for today. Thank you for listening. Please remember to stop by cantoneseclass101.com and pick up the PDF. If you stop by, please leave us a comment. Bye bye. |
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