Learn about time phrases
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to cantoneseclass101.com. I am David. |
| Nicole: 大家好，我係Nicole. (daai6 gaa1 hou2, ngo5 hai6 Nicole.) |
| David: Yes and Nicole and I are back with upper beginner, season 1, Lesson 17. The Hong Kong Recovery. |
| Nicole: 冇錯。(mou5 co3.) |
| David: Right. So our last lesson was about somebody who is sick. Someone is getting better now. So we are looking on the bright side of things. |
| Nicole: 係呀。(hai6 aa3.) |
| David: Yeah. The dialogue is between two friends, one of whom has been a bit sick for the last couple of days and it’s casual Cantonese as always. Let’s get to it. |
| Nicole: 好。(hou2.) |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:聽講你病咗？ (teng1 gong2 nei5 beng6 zo2? ) |
| B:前幾日有少少發燒。 (cin4 gei2 jat6 jau5 siu2 siu2 faat3 siu1. ) |
| A:咁而家好返未？ (gam2 ji4 gaa1 hou2 faan1 mei6? ) |
| B:食咗藥喇。 (sik6 zo2 joek6 laa3. ) |
| A:咁就好，注意身體呀。 (gam2 zau6 hou2, zyu3 ji3 san1 tai2 aa3. ) |
| B:多謝關心。(do1 ze6 gwaan1 sam1.) |
| David: Once more, a bit more slowly. |
| A:聽講你病咗？ (teng1 gong2 nei5 beng6 zo2? ) |
| B:前幾日有少少發燒。 (cin4 gei2 jat6 jau5 siu2 siu2 faat3 siu1. ) |
| A:咁而家好返未？ (gam2 ji4 gaa1 hou2 faan1 mei6? ) |
| B:食咗藥喇。 (sik6 zo2 joek6 laa3. ) |
| A:咁就好，注意身體呀。 (gam2 zau6 hou2, zyu3 ji3 san1 tai2 aa3. ) |
| B:多謝關心。(do1 ze6 gwaan1 sam1.) |
| David: And now, with the English translation. |
| A:聽講你病咗？ (teng1 gong2 nei5 beng6 zo2? ) |
| A: I heard you got sick? |
| B:前幾日有少少發燒。 (cin4 gei2 jat6 jau5 siu2 siu2 faat3 siu1. ) |
| B: I had a small fever for a few days. |
| A:咁而家好返未？ (gam2 ji4 gaa1 hou2 faan1 mei6? ) |
| A: Have you gotten better? |
| B:食咗藥喇。 (sik6 zo2 joek6 laa3. ) |
| B: I took medicine. |
| A:咁就好，注意身體呀。 (gam2 zau6 hou2, zyu3 ji3 san1 tai2 aa3. ) |
| A: That's good, please take care. |
| B:多謝關心。(do1 ze6 gwaan1 sam1.) |
| B: Thanks for caring. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: So at cantoneseclass101, we are not entirely depressing. |
| Nicole: Right. |
| David: People get sick sometimes but they get better. |
| Nicole: 係呀，會好返㗎！(hai6 aa3, wui5 hou2 faan1 gaa3!) |
| David: Yeah and that’s in our vocab list today. So let’s get to it. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Nicole: 病 (beng6) |
| David: To be sick. |
| Nicole: 病 (beng6) [slow] 病 (beng6) [normal speed]。前幾日 (cin4 gei2 jat6) |
| David: The last few days. |
| Nicole: 前幾日 (cin4 gei2 jat6) [slow] 前幾日 (cin4 gei2 jat6) [normal speed]。好返 (hou2 faan1) |
| David: To recover. |
| Nicole: 好返 (hou2 faan1) [slow] 好返 (hou2 faan1) [normal speed]。發燒 (faat3 siu1) |
| David: To have a fever. |
| Nicole: 發燒 (faat3 siu1) [slow] 發燒 (faat3 siu1) [normal speed]。而家 (ji4 gaa1) |
| David: Now. |
| Nicole: 而家 (ji4 gaa1) [slow] 而家 (ji4 gaa1) [normal speed]。藥 (joek6) |
| David: Medicine. |
| Nicole: 藥 (joek6) [slow] 藥 (joek6) [normal speed]。注意 (zyu3 ji3) |
| David: To pay attention. |
| Nicole: 注意 (zyu3 ji3) [slow] 注意 (zyu3 ji3) [normal speed]。關心 (gwaan1 sam1) |
| David: To care. |
| Nicole: 關心 (gwaan1 sam1) [slow] 關心 (gwaan1 sam1) [normal speed]。 |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Okay. So our vocab today, it’s about recovery, it’s about time, it’s also a bit about getting sick which is review. The first word we want to focus is this word for recovery. |
| Nicole: 好返 (hou2 faan1) |
| David: To recover |
| Nicole: 好返 (hou2 faan1) |
| David: In the dialogue, we heard it in this line. |
| Nicole: 咁而家好返未？(gam3 ji4 gaa1 hou2 faan1 mei6?) |
| David: Had you gotten better or not? |
| Nicole: 咁而家好返未？(gam3 ji4 gaa1 hou2 faan1 mei6?) |
| David: And that’s a full recovery. |
| Nicole: Yeah. |
| David: Yeah so it’s not just to get better a bit. That’s to make a full recovery. |
| Nicole: Yeah if you want to say get better a bit, you can say 好啲。(hou2 di1.) |
| David: I am a bit better. |
| Nicole: 我好啲喇。(ngo5 hou2 di1 laa3.) |
| David: Yeah. I had a fever but now I am a bit better. |
| Nicole: 我發燒，不過而家好啲喇。(ngo5 faat3 siu1, bat1 gwo3 ji4 gaa1 hou2 di1 laa3.) |
| David: In previous lessons, we covered vocabulary like to have a fever. |
| Nicole: 發燒 (faat3 siu1) |
| David: To have a cold. |
| Nicole: 感冒 (gam2 mou6) |
| David: To be sick. |
| Nicole: 病 (beng6) |
| David: What’s interesting and new here is we have two verbs at the end which mean close to the same thing. |
| Nicole: 注意 (zyu3 ji3) |
| David: And |
| Nicole: 關心 (gwaan1 sam1) |
| David: The first |
| Nicole: 注意 (zyu3 ji3) |
| David: Means to pay attention. |
| Nicole: 注意 (zyu3 ji3) |
| David: In the dialogue we heard |
| Nicole: 注意身體呀。(zyu3 ji3 san1 tai2 aa3.) |
| David: Which we translated as “take care”. It’s really, it’s pay attention to your body. |
| Nicole: 注意身體 (zyu3 ji3 san1 tai2) |
| David: In English, that would be take care of yourself, and the second verb |
| Nicole: 關心 (gwaan1 sam1) |
| David: Also means to care. |
| Nicole: 關心 (gwaan1 sam1) |
| David: But there is this subtle difference and the subtle difference is that |
| Nicole: 關心 (gwaan1 sam1) |
| David: Means emotional warmth and caring. |
| Nicole: Right. |
| David: Right. |
| Nicole: 關心 (gwaan1 sam1) |
| David: Whereas |
| Nicole: 注意 (zyu3 ji3) |
| David: It’s more abstract and it’s colder. It’s more pay attention to. Turn your mind towards. |
| Nicole: 注意 (zyu3 ji3) |
| David: So while in this dialogue, they translate the same way, in Cantonese, their meaning is actually quite different. For instance, you will hear people say |
| Nicole: 注意安全。(zyu3 ji3 ngon1 cyun4.) |
| David: Pay attention to safety. |
| Nicole: 注意安全。(zyu3 ji3 ngon1 cyun4.) |
| David: Right or if you are at the office, your boss might tell you |
| Nicole: 注意工作。(zyu3 ji3 gung1 zok3.) |
| David: Pay attention to work |
| Nicole: 注意工作。(zyu3 ji3 gung1 zok3.) |
| David: Yeah stop surfing the net, get working again. |
| Nicole: Right. |
| David: Right but your boss would never tell you to care about work because that doesn’t make any sense. Okay and Nicole, what about an example for our second verb. |
| Nicole: 關心。(gwaan1 sam1.) For example, for 關心 (gwaan1 sam1 ) you can say 我唔關心。(ngo5 m4 gwaan1 sam1.) |
| David: Right which is I don’t care. |
| Nicole: 或者「我一啲都唔關心」。(waak6 ze2 「 ngo5 jat1 di1 dou1 m4 gwaan1 sam1 」.) |
| David: I don’t care even a bit. |
| Nicole: Right. |
| David: Yeah. |
| Nicole: Or you can say, 我哋分咗手，不過我仲好關心佢。(ngo5 dei6 fan1 zo2 sau2, bat1 gwo3 ngo5 zung6 hou2 gwaan1 sam1 keoi5.) |
| David: We broke up but I still care about him or her. |
| Nicole: 我哋分咗手，不過我仲好關心佢。(ngo5 dei6 fan1 zo2 sau2, bat1 gwo3 ngo5 zung6 hou2 gwaan1 sam1 keoi5.) |
| David: We broke up but I still care about him or her. So that’s our vocab for today. Again the highlights are |
| Nicole: 好返 (hou2 faan1) |
| David: To make a full recovery. |
| Nicole: 好啲 (hou2 di1) |
| David: To get better. |
| Nicole: 注意 (zyu3 ji3) |
| David: To pay attention. |
| Nicole: 關心 (gwaan1 sam1) |
| David: To care. And with that, let’s move on to our grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: Our grammar point today comes from this line in the dialogue. |
| Nicole: 前幾日有少少發燒。(cin4 gei2 jat6 jau5 siu2 siu2 faat3 siu1.) |
| David: I’ve had a small fever for the last few days. |
| Nicole: 前幾日有少少發燒。(cin4 gei2 jat6 jau5 siu2 siu2 faat3 siu1.) |
| David: We want to focus on the time phrase. |
| Nicole: 前幾日 (cin4 gei2 jat6) |
| David: Right. Now because this is a time phrase, we put it at the start of our sentences in Cantonese. For instance, I’ve been busy the last few days. |
| Nicole: 前幾日我好忙呀。(cin4 gei2 jat6 ngo5 hou2 mong4 aa3.) |
| David: I’ve been busy for the last few days. |
| Nicole: 前幾日我好忙呀。(cin4 gei2 jat6 ngo5 hou2 mong4 aa3.) |
| David: Right. So the sentence structure is the opposite of what we normally use in English. |
| Nicole: That’s right. |
| David: Right and we don’t just need to say the last few days. We can actually specify. We can say the last two days. |
| Nicole: 前兩日(cin4 loeng5 jat6) |
| David: The last four days. |
| Nicole: 前四日 (cin4 sei3 jat6) |
| David: The last six days. |
| Nicole: 前六日(cin4 luk6 jat6) |
| David: Right. For instance, I’ve been tired the last four days. |
| Nicole: 前四日我好攰呀。(cin4 sei3 jat6 ngo5 hou2 gui6 aa3.) |
| David: I’ve been tired for the last four days. |
| Nicole: 前四日我好攰呀。(cin4 sei3 jat6 ngo5 hou2 gui6 aa3.) |
| David: How about he’s been angry for the last five days? |
| Nicole: 前五日佢好嬲呀。(cin4 ng5 jat6 keoi5 hou2 nau1 aa3.) |
| David: Right and we are using day there. |
| Nicole: 日。(jat6.) |
| David: But we can switch this out to other time periods as well. We can say week. |
| Nicole: 禮拜 (lai5 baai3) |
| David: Month. |
| Nicole: 月 (jyut6) |
| David: Or year. |
| Nicole: 年 (nin4) |
| David: Although this is a bit tricky because if it is a week or a month, we need to stick a |
| Nicole: 個 (go3) |
| David: In front of the time period. For instance, the last week. |
| Nicole: 前個禮拜 (cin4 go3 lai5 baai3) |
| David: The last two weeks. |
| Nicole: 前兩個禮拜 (cin4 loeng5 go3 lai5 baai3) |
| David: Right. I’ve been traveling the last two weeks. |
| Nicole: 前兩個禮拜我去咗旅行。(cin4 loeng5 go3 lai5 baai3 ngo5 heoi3 zo2 leoi5 hang4.) |
| David: So this is pretty easy because it’s using characters we already know. We are just using them to make time compound phrases. The tricky thing to remember is again sentence order. |
| Nicole: That’s right. Remember to put a time phrase at the beginning of the sentence. |
| David: Right and as a bonus point, we can also use this pattern to put things into the future right. We can say the next few days. |
| Nicole: 過幾日 (gwo3 gei2 jat6) |
| David: The next few months. |
| Nicole: 過幾個月 (gwo3 gei2 go3 jyut6) |
| David: Right. |
| Nicole: And 過幾年 (gwo3 gei2 nin4) |
| David: The next few years. |
| Nicole: Right. |
Outro |
| David: So with that pattern, remember the time phrase goes at the beginning of the sentence and that brings us to the end of our show today. As always Nicole, there is something you wanted to remind people. |
| Nicole: That’s right. If you haven’t got an account with CantoneseClass101, sign up. |
| David: Yes. You put your email on the box and it takes all 7 seconds for us to send you an email with password info and you are going to get a lot of free stuff. |
| Nicole: That’s right. |
| David: For now though, that’s all the time we have. From Hong Kong, I am David. |
| Nicole: 我係Nicole。(ngo5 hai6 Nicole.) |
| David: And we will see you on the site. |
| Nicole: Bye bye. |
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