Learn a pattern that allows you to ask a question then immediately make a suggestion
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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: And Nicole, we have upper beginner, season 1, Lesson 18. Food in Hong Kong. |
| Nicole: 香港嘅嘢食。(hoeng1 gong2 ge3 je5 sik6.) |
| David: Yeah which is proof that we cannot get far from the concept of food. |
| Nicole: 係呀。(hai6 aa3.) |
| David: But what’s interesting today is we’ve actually got some words that are impossible to translate into English. |
| Nicole: 好難翻譯。(hou2 naan4 faan1 jik6.) |
| David: Yes but we are going to try any way. We’ve got a dialogue today that’s casual Cantonese as always between two friends talking about where to go for dinner. See if you can figure out which words we are talking about. |
| Nicole: 好！(hou2 ！) |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:晚餐想食咩？ (maan5 caan1 soeng2 sik6 me1? ) |
| B:隨便啦。 (ceoi4 bin2 laa1. ) |
| A:不如食日本餐？ (bat1 jyu4 sik6 jat6 bun2 caan1? ) |
| B:我覺得太貴喇。 (ngo5 gok3 dak1 taai3 gwai3 laa6.) |
| A:咁燒烤呢？ (gam2 siu1 haau1 ne1? ) |
| B:燒烤太熱氣。(siu1 haau1 taai3 jit6 hei3. ) |
| A:咁你想食咩？ (gam2 nei5 soeng2 sik6 me1? ) |
| B:隨便啦。(ceoi4 bin2 laa1.) |
| David: Once more, a bit more slowly. |
| A:晚餐想食咩？ (maan5 caan1 soeng2 sik6 me1? ) |
| B:隨便啦。 (ceoi4 bin2 laa1. ) |
| A:不如食日本餐？ (bat1 jyu4 sik6 jat6 bun2 caan1? ) |
| B:我覺得太貴喇。 (ngo5 gok3 dak1 taai3 gwai3 laa6.) |
| A:咁燒烤呢？(gam2 siu1 haau1 ne1? ) |
| B:燒烤太熱氣。(siu1 haau1 taai3 jit6 hei3. ) |
| A:咁你想食咩？ (gam2 nei5 soeng2 sik6 me1? ) |
| B:隨便啦。(ceoi4 bin2 laa1.) |
| David: And now, with the English translation. |
| A:晚餐想食咩？ (maan5 caan1 soeng2 sik6 me1? ) |
| A: What do you want for dinner? |
| B:隨便啦。 (ceoi4 bin2 laa1. ) |
| B: Anything is okay. |
| A:不如食日本餐？ (bat1 jyu4 sik6 jat6 bun2 caan1? ) |
| A: How about Japanese food? |
| B:我覺得太貴喇。 (ngo5 gok3 dak1 taai3 gwai3 laa6.) |
| B: I think it's too expensive. |
| A:咁燒烤呢？ (gam2 siu1 haau1 ne1? ) |
| A: How about barbecued meat? |
| B:燒烤太熱氣。 (siu1 haau1 taai3 jit6 hei3. ) |
| B: Barbecue is too hot. |
| A:咁你想食咩？ (gam2 nei5 soeng2 sik6 me1? ) |
| A: Then what do you want to eat? |
| B:隨便啦。(ceoi4 bin2 laa1.) |
| B: Anything is okay. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: Okay so our vocab today, it’s about food. We’ve got these words here which are – they are impossible to translate into English. |
| Nicole: 好幾個都翻譯唔到。(hou2 gei2 go3 dou1 faan1 jik6 m4 dou3.) |
| David: Right. We are going to make a good faith effort in our vocab section though. You will be able to tell which one’s we are talking about. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Nicole: 晚餐 (maan5 caan1) |
| David: Dinner. |
| Nicole: 晚餐 (maan5 caan1) [slow] 晚餐 (maan5 caan1) [normal speed]。午餐 (ng5 caan1) |
| David: Lunch. |
| Nicole: 午餐 (ng5 caan1) [slow] 午餐 (ng5 caan1) [normal speed]。早餐 (zou2 caan1) |
| David: Breakfast. |
| Nicole: 早餐 (zou2 caan1) [slow] 早餐 (zou2 caan1) [normal speed]。宵夜 (siu1 je2) |
| David: A late night snack. |
| Nicole: 宵夜 (siu1 je2) [slow] 宵夜 (siu1 je2) [normal speed]。 隨便 (ceoi4 bin2) |
| David: Whatever. |
| Nicole: 隨便 (ceoi4 bin2) [slow] 隨便 (ceoi4 bin2) [normal speed]。燒烤 (siu1 haau1) |
| David: Barbeque. |
| Nicole: 燒烤 (siu1 haau1) [slow] 燒烤 (siu1 haau1) [normal speed]。熱氣 (jit6 hei3) |
| David: Excessive heat. |
| Nicole: 熱氣 (jit6 hei3) [slow] 熱氣 (jit6 hei3) [normal speed]。涼茶 (loeng4 caa4) |
| David: Cooling tea. |
| Nicole: 涼茶 (loeng4 caa4) [slow] 涼茶 (loeng4 caa4) [normal speed]。 |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Okay. So our vocab focus is on the three words that are difficult to translate. |
| Nicole: 冇錯。(mou5 co3.) |
| David: We have no idea how to do it. So let’s do them one by one. First |
| Nicole: 宵夜。(siu1 je2.) |
| David: How do we translate this Nicole? It’s |
| Nicole: I have no idea. |
| David: I think the official English translation is night market. This is a place that’s open late at night. |
| Nicole: Except that you are not referring to a place. You are referring to a meal that we can eat. |
| David: Yes in Cantonese, this refers to a late night meal. |
| Nicole: Yes, 宵夜。(siu1 je2.) |
| David: So you can eat lunch, you can eat dinner, you can eat breakfast and you can eat |
| Nicole: 宵夜。(siu1 je2.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Nicole: For example, 食宵夜。(sik6 siu1 je2.) |
| David: That’s having the late night meal. |
| Nicole: 不如我哋一齊去食宵夜吖。(bat1 jyu4 ngo5 dei6 jat1 cai4 heoi3 sik6 siu1 je2 aa1.) |
| David: Why don’t we go out and have a late night meal. |
| Nicole: 不如我哋一齊去食宵夜吖。(bat1 jyu4 ngo5 dei6 jat1 cai4 heoi3 sik6 siu1 je2 aa1.) |
| David: I think the official translation is night market but again that’s coming from Mainland China where you have lots of different stands serving food. In Hong Kong, it’s the late night meal restaurant. |
| Nicole: Yeah those restaurants often open late until 2 AM or 3 AM. |
| David: Yeah, yeah. So if you are going out late at night to eat, you are going out to eat. |
| Nicole: 宵夜。(siu1 je2.) |
| David: Yeah. That was number one. The second word that we had difficulty with |
| Nicole: 熱氣。(jit6 hei3.) |
| David: Which we translate it as hot. In the dialogue, we heard it in this line. |
| Nicole: 燒烤太熱氣。(siu1 haau1 taai3 jit6 hei3.) |
| David: Barbeque is too hot. |
| Nicole: 燒烤太熱氣。(siu1 haau1 taai3 jit6 hei3.) |
| David: Right, which is technically, it’s Barbecued meat is too hot, and that’s Korean food they are probably talking about. |
| Nicole: Yeah Koreans love Barbecue. |
| David: Yeah but apparently we learned in this lesson that it is not good because it is going to cause you to be excessively hot. |
| Nicole: That’s right. It’s very difficult to translate as well. |
| David: Yeah. |
| Nicole: 熱氣。(jit6 hei3.) |
| David: It’s not talking about the food. It’s not saying that food is spicy. It’s saying, the food causes your body to accumulate too much fire. |
| Nicole: And that’s supposed to be bad for your health. |
| David: Yes which takes us to the third word. |
| Nicole: 涼茶。(loeng4 caa4.) |
| David: Cooling tea. |
| Nicole: 涼茶。(loeng4 caa4.) |
| David: Which is the most normal of the three. |
| Nicole: Yeah, yeah. |
| David: But it’s supposed to combat the excessive heat of meats and that sort of thing. |
| Nicole: Yeah so if you get too 熱氣 (jit6 hei3), you have to 飲涼茶(jam2 loeng4 caa4)。如果你熱氣，就飲涼茶。(jyu4 gwo2 nei5 jit6 hei3, zau6 jam2 loeng4 caa4.) |
| David: Right, and your friends and family in Hong Kong will tell you about this frequently. |
| Nicole: Yeah and you will see stands selling bottled cooling teas everywhere. |
| David: Yeah and it actually does taste pretty good. So if you haven’t tried it, go to the stand and say, I’d like to try some cooling tea. |
| Nicole: And remember to tell them, you want to try the tasty ones. Otherwise they will give you the bitter ones. |
| David: Yeah, yeah. So any way, three words to remember, tough to translate though. |
| Nicole: 宵夜，熱氣，涼茶。(siu1 je2, jit6 hei3, loeng4 caa4.) |
| David: And if you have any questions, let’s cover them in the discussion section because we can go into depth on these and now let’s move on to our grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: Okay Nicole, what do we have today? |
| Nicole: 想食咩呀？不如... (soeng2 sik6 me1 aa3? bat1 jyu4 ...) |
| David: Right. We are going to talk about a pattern that you can use to ask a question and then immediately make a suggestion. |
| Nicole: That’s right. |
| David: Right. Let’s hear that again. |
| Nicole: 想食咩呀？不如... (soeng2 sik6 me1 aa3? bat1 jyu4 ...) |
| David: The first part of that is the question. |
| Nicole: 想食咩？(soeng2 sik6 me1? ) |
| David: What do you want to eat? |
| Nicole: 想食咩？(soeng2 sik6 me1? ) |
| David: The subject is assumed it’s you. It’s because we are talking to you but we could use any verb here. |
| Nicole: 想飲咩？(soeng2 jam2 me1? ) |
| David: What do you want to drink? |
| Nicole: 想做咩？(soeng2 zou6 me1? ) |
| David: What do you want to do? Now what’s interesting here is the second part of that sentence. |
| Nicole: 不如... (bat1 jyu4 ...) |
| David: How about? |
| Nicole: 不如... (bat1 jyu4 ...) |
| David: How about. So first we are asking a general question and then we are making a specific suggestion. |
| Nicole: Yeah so actually you are not asking. You just want to suggest something by asking politely and pretend to be nice. |
| David: Yes use this when you want to have a late night meal. |
| Nicole: Yeah when you force somebody to go out with you. |
| David: Yeah. Why don’t we do this? So we are going to give you some examples so that you too can politely push your way on other people. |
| Nicole: That’s right. 想食咩呀？不如食宵夜吖？(soeng2 sik6 me1 aa3? bat1 jyu4 sik6 siu1 je2 aa1? ) |
| David: What do you want to eat? How about we go out for late night meal? |
| Nicole: 想食咩呀？不如去食宵夜吖？(soeng2 sik6 me1 aa3? bat1 jyu4 heoi3 sik6 siu1 je2 aa1?) |
| 想做咩呀？不如去睇戲吖？(soeng2 zou6 me1 aa3? bat1 jyu4 heoi3 tai2 hei3 aa1?) |
| David: What do you want to do? How about going to a movie? |
| Nicole: 想做咩呀？不如去睇戲吖？(soeng2 zou6 me1 aa3? bat1 jyu4 heoi3 tai2 hei3 aa1?) |
| David: What do you want to do? How about seeing a film? Right, so again the pattern is pretty simple. We are using the simple sentence construction. |
| Nicole: 想食咩 (soeng2 sik6 me1 ) |
| David: So again the pattern is pretty easy. We are using the simple question construction. |
| Nicole: 想食咩？(soeng2 sik6 me1? ) |
| David: What does somebody want to do followed up immediately with |
| Nicole: 不如... (bat1 jyu4 ...) |
| David: How about, and then what you want to do. |
| Nicole: 想買咩呀？不如買戒指吖？(soeng2 maai5 me1 aa3? bat1 jyu4 maai5 gaai3 zi2 aa1? ) |
| David: Right and that’s if someone’s giving you a suggestion. Let’s hear it again. |
| Nicole: 想買咩呀？不如買戒指吖？(soeng2 maai5 me1 aa3? bat1 jyu4 maai5 gaai3 zi2 aa1? ) |
| David: What do you want to buy, how about a ring? |
| Nicole: That’s pretty obvious. |
| David: Yes but you know, this is a point of its construction. You are asking a question but you are turning it around by making it into a suggestion. |
| Nicole: That’s right. |
Outro |
| David: Okay and that’s our show for today. Before we go, I wanted to remind you guys, if you have any questions or comments or feedback, there is a place you can go. |
| Nicole: CantoneseClass101.com. We look forward to seeing you there. |
| David: Yes and we will do our best to answer your questions online. From Hong Kong, I am David. |
| Nicole: 我係Nicole。(ngo5 hai6 Nicole.) |
| David: And we will see you guys on the site. |
| Nicole: Bye bye. |
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Comments
Hide你晚餐想食咩？
Hi William,
熱氣 is a state of patient coined by Chinese medicine. Chinese doctor will call you 熱氣 when you've eaten too much deep-fried food. Usually the symptoms are: throat-ache, tongue turning pale, and feeling ill etc. I am no expert but Chinese medicine is still what most older people trust in Hong Kong.
Opposite to 熱氣, a patient can also be 冷親 which literally means to catch a cold.
Arnold
Team CantoneseClass101.com
我覺得"宵夜"唔難翻譯. 但係, 我仲唔知"熱氣"係咩意思, 喺網上查都唔明. 可唔可以再講一次?
Hello robert groulx,
You are very welcome. 😇
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Good luck with your language studies.
Kind regards,
利凡特
Team CantoneseClass101.com
thanks for the lesson
my favorite phrase is 想做咩呀？不如去睇戲吖？
robert
Hello Vincent,
午餐一般我都食三文治。
ng5 caan1 jat1 bun1 ngo5 dou1 sik6 saam1 man4 zi6.
I usually have sandwiches for lunch.
一般 (jat1 bun1) ~ generally, in most case, ordinary
一 (jat1) ~ one
般 (bun1)~ same as
You are right that 三文治(saam1 man4 zi6) simply copy the English phonetic sound for "sandwich".
好幾個都翻譯唔到.(hou2 gei2 go3 dou1 faan1 jik6 m4 dou2.) ~
好幾個(hou2 gei2 go3)~ quite a few
都(dou1)~ also
翻譯 (faan1 jik6)~ translate, interpret
翻(faan1)~ turn upside down, reverse
譯(jik6)~ translate
唔到( m4 dou2) ~ not reaching (the target which is the suitable translation.)
唔(m4)~ not
到(dou2)~ reach,arrive.
Siuling
Team CantoneseClass101.com
In the vocabulary sentence for "ng5 caan1: lunch" ("ng5 caan1 jat1 bun1 ngo5 dou1 sik6 saam1 man4 zi6. I usually have sandwiches for lunch."), what does "bun1" 般 mean, individually by itself, and when combined with "jat1" 一 (as "jat1 bun1") and does "saam1 man4 zi6" 三文治 simply copy the English phonetic sound for "sandwich" or does it somehow literally translate as sandwich? (The on-line dictionary translates "jat1 bun1" 一般 as meaning "so-so, okay," but that does not appear to be its meaning in the vocabulary sentence.)
In the Post Conversation Banter, when Nicole says in her first sentence "hou2 gei2 go3 dou1 faan1 jik6 m4 dou3.好幾個都翻譯唔到," what does the phrase "hou2 gei2 go3 dou1" 好幾個都 mean, and what does "faan1"翻 and "jik6"譯 mean, individually and together? (I'm guessing that "hou2" 好 means "good, okay"."gei2 go3"幾個 means "a few" and "dou1" 都 means "to arrive, reach", but those translations don't appear to go together to make a comprehensible phrase there.) Thank you, again, for your helpful assistance!
Hello Takao,
唔使客氣（m4 sai2 haak3 hei3）～You are welcome!
Thank you so much for your inspiring question as always.
Siuling
Team CantoneseClass101.com
Hello Siuling
Thanks for your advice!
Understand "啲乜" is very common and useful expression!
多謝:smile:
Hello Takao,
怕(paa3)~ afraid, scared
去(heoi3)~ to go.
你早餐食咗啲乜？ (nei5 zou2 caan1 sik6 zo2 di1 mat1?)
What did you eat for the breakfast?
You are right that 啲(di1) means "something" and 乜(mat1) means "whtat" in this sentence. :thumbsup:
啲(di1) also means "a little bit" too .For example, 快啲(faai3 di1)~ a little bit faster, 多啲(do1 di1)~ a little bit more.
It is a very common way to ask "What did you DO?" in Cantonese.
你學咗啲乜?(nei5 hok6 zo2 di1 mat1?)~What did you learn?
你做咗啲乜?(nei5 zou6 zo2 di1 mat1?)~What did you do?
你買咗啲乜?(nei5 maai5 zo2 di1 mat1?)~what did you buy?
Siuling
Team CantoneseClass101.com
Hello Takao,
From the sample sentence of Lesson Notes PDF
我最唔鍾意聽到人講隨便.(ngo5 zeoi3 m4 zung1 ji3 teng1 dou2 jan4 gong2 ceoi4 bin2.)
"I hate hearing others say 'whatever'."
聽到(teng1 dou2)~ have heard
聽(teng1)~ hear, listen
到(dou2)~ literally means "arrive, reach, get to".
Other example like {睇到(tai2 dou2)~have seen}, {收到(sau1 dou2)~ have received}.
The negative form of this expression is Verb + 唔(m4) + 到(dou2)
For example, 我聽唔到(ngo5 teng1 m4 dou2)~ I cannot hear.
Most of the time it is pronounced as 到(dou3) the third tone.
For example 我到咗香港。(ngo5 dou3 zo2 hoeng1 gong2)~ I arrived Hong Kong.
Siuling
Team CantoneseClass101.com
Hello, I have one more question.
你早餐食咗啲乜？
I guess the word above sentence "啲" means "something", while "乜" means "what".
Is it common way to be used in that way?
Please advise how it works?
Hello!
I have some questions from expansion sample sentences.
1.我最唔鍾意聽到人講隨便
I'd like to know the function of the word "到" in this sentence.
It seems like like 唔+verb+到, meaning cannot～.
Please give me advice ?
2.我媽媽好怕去燒烤
The word "怕去" means simply "dosen't like" in the translation?
Simply possible to use as a verb?
Hi Jason,
You're right, 是但 is more causal and colloquial than 隨便 .:wink:
Olivia
Team CantoneseClass101.com
What is the difference between ‘是但’ and ‘隨便’?
I guess the former is more causal and the latter is more formal?
Hi Moon,
Hahaha People who studies or believe in Chinese Traditional Medicine might give you some scientific facts to show that it's not only superstitions. But what you say is correct, 冇熱氣。 and 我唔信熱氣。 are perfect ways to tell people to sit back and let you finish the lychee and durian :grin:
Olivia
Team CantoneseClass101.com
All this nagging from friends about 熱氣 can be quite irritating, especially since it's simply superstitious nonsense. Any useful (or comical) phrases to deflect people so I can eat my lychee and durian in peace? I can only say:
冇熱氣。
我唔信熱氣。