Learn useful phrases to use at the post office
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| Cantonese Survival phrases, lesson 39. Post office. My dear listeners, today we are going to take a trip to the post office. Now the post office in Cantonese is 郵局(jau4 guk6), 郵局(jau4 guk6). post office 郵局(jau4 guk6). Today we are going to learn how to send a postcard back home. The phrase we need for this is I would like to send this to 我要寄呢個去(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 go3 heoi3). I would like to send this to 我要寄呢個去(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 go3 heoi3). Now let’s add a destination like Italy 意大利(ji3 daai6 lei6) Italy 意大利(ji3 daai6 lei6). So let’s say I would like to send this to Italy. 我要寄呢個去意大利(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 go3 heoi3 ji3 daai6 lei6) I would like to send this to Italy. 我要寄呢個去意大利(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 go3 heoi3 ji3 daai6 lei6) Let’s break it down by syllable. 我 要 寄 呢 個 去 意 大 利(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 go3 heoi3 ji3 daai6 lei6), 我要寄呢個去意大利(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 go3 heoi3 ji3 daai6 lei6). The first word 我要(ngo5 jiu3) means I would like. Let’s hear them one more time 我要(ngo5 jiu3), 我要(ngo5 jiu3). We’ve heard this before in sentences like I would like a towel. 我要毛巾(ngo5 jiu3 mou4 gan1) or I would like a postcard 我要明信片(ngo5 jiu3 ming4 seon3 pin2) Next we have 寄(gei3) which in English is, to send 寄(gei3), 寄(gei3). Followed by 呢個(ni1 go3) this one 呢個(ni1 go3) this one. 寄 呢 個(gei3 ni1 go3) Send this one. 寄 呢 個(gei3 ni1 go3), send this one. Finally we have 去(heoi3) which means to 去(heoi3), 去(heoi3) and the name of the city you are sending it to follows last. Here we use Italy 意大利(ji3 daai6 lei6) Italy 意大利(ji3 daai6 lei6). So our complete sentence is 我要寄呢個去意大利(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 go3 heoi3 ji3 daai6 lei6) Literally this means I would like to send this to Italy. We’ve already learned how to say postcard 明信片(ming4 seon3 pin2) postcard 明信片(ming4 seon3 pin2) Let’s break it down by syllable 明 信 片(ming4 seon3 pin2). Now let’s hear it again 明信片(ming4 seon3 pin2). The measure word for 明信片(ming4 seon3 pin2) is 張(zoeng1), 張(zoeng1) which means a piece. So this postcard is 呢張明信片(ni1 zoeng1 ming4 seon3 pin2) this piece of postcard 呢張明信片(ni1 zoeng1 ming4 seon3 pin2). I would like to send this postcard to Italy. In Cantonese, it is 我要寄呢張明信片去意大利(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 zoeng1 ming4 seon3 pin2 heoi3 ji3 daai6 lei6). I would like to send this postcard to Italy. 我要寄呢張明信片去意大利(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 zoeng1 ming4 seon3 pin2 heoi3 ji3 daai6 lei6) Now let’s try letter which in Cantonese is 信(seon3), 信(seon3). However the measure word for 信(seon3) is 封(fung1), 封(fung1) which originally means to seal but here it’s the measure word for 信(seon3) or letter. So when we say this letter, we say 呢封信(ni1 fung1 seon1), 呢封信(ni1 fung1 seon1) this letter. I like to send this letter to Italy. In Cantonese, it is 我要寄呢封信去意大利(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 fung1 seon1 heoi3 ji3 daai6 lei6) I would like to send this letter to Italy. 我要寄呢封信去意大利(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 fung1 seon1 heoi3 ji3 daai6 lei6) As you can notice, we replace card 明信片(ming4 seon3 pin2) with letter 信(seon3). 我要寄呢封信去意大利(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 fung1 seon1 heoi3 ji3 daai6 lei6) I like to send this letter to Italy. Now let’s try some other countries. I would like to send this letter to America. 我要寄呢封信去美國(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 fung1 seon1 heoi3 mei5 gwok3) I like to send this letter to England. 我要寄呢封信去英國(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 fung1 seon1 heoi3 jing1 gwok3) I’d like to send this postcard to Australia. 我要寄呢張明信片去澳洲(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 zoeng1 ming4 seon3 pin2 heoi3 ou3 zau1) In our next lesson, we will talk about sending packages. For now though, let’s have a quick test. I would like to send this to Italy. 我要寄呢個去意大利(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 go3 heoi3 ji3 daai6 lei6) I would like to send this postcard to Italy 我要寄呢張明信片去意大利(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 zoeng1 ming4 seon3 pin2 heoi3 ji3 daai6 lei6) I would like to send this letter to America. 我要寄呢封信去美國(ngo5 jiu3 gei3 ni1 fung1 seon1 heoi3 mei5 gwok3) |
| All right, that’s about does it for today. Remember to stop by cantoneseclass101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF and if you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. Bye bye! |
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