Learn how to say "hello"
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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. |
| Today we will cover basic greetings for the appropriate time of the day. In Hong Kong or anywhere else in the Cantonese world, we can use the phrase 你好(nei5 hou2) as universal greeting. It literally means you good 你好(nei5 hou2). Let’s say it slowly now. 你 好(nei5 hou2), 你好(nei5 hou2) Now both of the syllables are using rising tones 你 好(nei5 hou2). The second one is slightly higher than the first one 你好(nei5 hou2), 你好(nei5 hou2) . Hello or you good. Not a bad way to greet someone and to respond, just repeat what you just heard 你好(nei5 hou2) ,你好(nei5 hou2). Now in Cantonese, good morning is早晨(zou2 san4),早 晨(zou2 san4). let’s break it down by syllable. 早 晨(zou2 san4), 早(zou2) is morning. 早(zou2) second rising tone, 早 晨(zou2 san4) in Cantonese is daybreak or morning, 晨(san4), 早 晨(zou2 san4). It’s actually just morning but when you say it to someone, it’s greeting. It means good morning 早 晨(zou2 san4). Note that in Cantonese, there are no special greetings for good afternoon or good evening. We would use general 你好(nei5 hou2) instead. So when you meet people in the afternoon or in the evenings, you can just say 你好(nei5 hou2) instead or it’s simply Hi 你好(nei5 hou2),Hi. Finally though we do have a greeting at night in Cantonese. That’s goodnight 早唞(zou2 tau2), 早 唞(zou2 tau2), goodnight. It literally means early break or to have a rest early 早(zou2) as we have heard in 早晨(zou2 san4). It means morning or early. 唞(tau2) is rest. 唞(tau2) rest. 早唞(zou2 tau2) goodnight, 早唞(zou2 tau2) goodnight. Both of them are high rising tones. 早唞(zou2 tau2) that means goodnight. Now let’s have a quick review of what we’ve just learned. The first one universal greeting 你好(nei5 hou2) hello 你好(nei5 hou2) hello. The second one 早晨(zou2 san4) good morning 早晨(zou2 san4) good morning. Next one 早唞(zou2 tau2) goodnight 早唞(zou2 tau2) goodnight. If you want to be on the safe side when using greetings in Cantonese, 你好(nei5 hou2) will be your obvious choice. When using 你好(nei5 hou2) you don’t have to worry about the occasions or his or her profession or age. 你好(nei5 hou2) is always your safest bet however learning the various greetings in the language can have very pleasant result. For example, if you use the simple greeting 早晨(zou2 san4) when you meet someone in the morning, you are sure to put a smile on people’s faces. So go ahead and try 早晨(zou2 san4) or 早唞(zou2 tau2) morning and goodnight. Okay to close our today’s lesson, we would like you to practice what you’ve just learned. I will provide you with the English equivalent of the phrases and you are responsible for shouting it out loud. You have a few seconds before I give you the answers. So 加 油(gaa1 jau2)! The first word universal, hello 你好(nei5 hou2) good morning 早晨(zou2 san4) goodnight 早唞(zou2 tau2). All right, that about that’s it for today. I hope everyone gets the answers right. Remember to stop by cantoneseclass101.com and pick up the PDFs and when you stop by, be sure to leave us a post. Bye bye. |
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