Learn how to ask questions in Cantonese using 乜
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to CantoneseClass101.com. I am David. |
| Melody: 大家好，我係Melody. (daai6 gaa1 hou2, ngo5 hai6 Melody.) |
| David: And we are here today with upper beginner, season 1, Lesson 2. Looking For the Manager in Hong Kong. |
| Melody: 第二課，喺香港搵經理。(dai6 ji6 fo3, hai2 hoeng1 gong2 wan2 ging1 lei5.) |
| David: Right. So Melody, our dialogue today takes place in a hotel or an office building. |
| Melody: 應該係喺間公司入面，喺前台嗰度。 (jing3 goi1 hai6 hai2 gaan1 gung1 si1 jap6 min6, hai2 cin4 toi4 go2 dou6.) |
| David: Yeah. It should be in office of a company and we’ve got a dialogue between a receptionist and a customer. |
| Melody: 冇錯。(mou5 co3.) |
| David: Who is looking for the manager and they are speaking casual Cantonese as always. Let’s get to our dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:請問你搵邊位？ (cing2 man6 nei5 wan2 bin1 wai2 ? ) |
| B:我想搵你哋經理。(ngo5 soeng2 wan2 nei5 dei6 ging1 lei5. ) |
| A:你搵邊位經理？ (nei5 wan2 bin1 wai2 ging1 lei5 ? ) |
| B:乜你哋有好多經理咩？ (mat1 nei5 dei6 jau5 hou2 do1 ging1 lei5 me1 ? ) |
| A:有張經理，陳經理，王經理。 (jau5 zoeng1 ging1 lei5, can4 ging1 lei5, wong4 ging1 lei5. ) |
| B:我唔知佢姓乜，但知道係男人。(ngo5 m4 zi1 keoi5 sing3 mat1, daan6 zi1 dou3 hai6 naam4 jan2. ) |
| A:三個經理都係男嘅。(saam1 go3 ging1 lei5 dou1 hai6 naam4 ge3.) |
| David: Once more, a bit slower. |
| A:請問你搵邊位？ (cing2 man6 nei5 wan2 bin1 wai2 ? ) |
| B:我想搵你哋經理。 (ngo5 soeng2 wan2 nei5 dei6 ging1 lei5. ) |
| A:你搵邊位經理？ (nei5 wan2 bin1 wai2 ging1 lei5 ? ) |
| B:乜你哋有好多經理咩？ (mat1 nei5 dei6 jau5 hou2 do1 ging1 lei5 me1 ? ) |
| A:有張經理，陳經理，王經理。 (jau5 zoeng1 ging1 lei5, can4 ging1 lei5, wong4 ging1 lei5. ) |
| B:我唔知佢姓乜，但知道係男人。 (ngo5 m4 zi1 keoi5 sing3 mat1, daan6 zi1 dou3 hai6 naam4 jan2. ) |
| A:三個經理都係男嘅。(saam1 go3 ging1 lei5 dou1 hai6 naam4 ge3.) |
| David: And now, with the English translation. |
| A:請問你搵邊位？ (cing2 man6 nei5 wan2 bin1 wai2 ? ) |
| A: Excuse me, who are you looking for? |
| B:我想搵你哋經理。 (ngo5 soeng2 wan2 nei5 dei6 ging1 lei5. ) |
| B: I'm looking for your manager. |
| A:你搵邊位經理？(nei5 wan2 bin1 wai2 ging1 lei5 ? ) |
| A: Which one? |
| B:乜你哋有好多經理咩？(mat1 nei5 dei6 jau5 hou2 do1 ging1 lei5 me1 ? ) |
| B: You've got more than one manager? |
| A:有張經理，陳經理，王經理。 (jau5 zoeng1 ging1 lei5, can4 ging1 lei5, wong4 ging1 lei5. ) |
| A: There is Manager Cheung, Chan, and Wong. |
| B:我唔知佢姓乜，但知道係男人。 (ngo5 m4 zi1 keoi5 sing3 mat1, daan6 zi1 dou3 hai6 naam4 jan2. ) |
| B: I don't know his last name but I'm sure he is a man. |
| A:三個經理都係男嘅。(saam1 go3 ging1 lei5 dou1 hai6 naam4 ge3.) |
| A: They are all men. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Melody: 所以呢間公司有三個經理。(so2 ji3 ni1 gaan1 gung1 si1 jau5 saam1 go3 ging1 lei5.) |
| David: Right. This has to be the worst job ever… |
| Melody: 冇錯。(mou5 co3.) |
| David: For the receptionist. |
| Melody: 可能係大公司啩。(ho2 nang4 hai6 daai6 gung1 si1 gwaa3.) |
| David: You get something wrong, three people come over to yell at you. |
| Melody: Yeah. |
| David: So Melody reassure everyone. This is not what Hong Kong companies are really like. |
| Melody: 冇錯，三個太多喇，可能一兩個差唔多。(mou5 co3, saam1 go3 taai3 do1 laa3, ho2 nang4 jat1 loeng5 go3 caa1 m4 do1.) |
| David: Okay. So our vocabulary today is about looking for someone at the company or anywhere else. Let’s get to it. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Melody: 搵 (wan2) |
| David: To look for |
| Melody: 搵 (wan2) [slow] 搵 (wan2) [normal speed]。前台 (cin4 toi4) |
| David: Front desk. |
| Melody: 前台 (cin4 toi4) [slow] 前台 (cin4 toi4) [normal speed]。秘書 (bei3 syu1) |
| David: Secretary. |
| Melody: 秘書 (bei3 syu1) [slow] 秘書 (bei3 syu1) [normal speed]。老闆 (lou5 baan2) |
| David: Boss. |
| Melody: 老闆 (lou5 baan2) [slow] 老闆 (lou5 baan2) [normal speed]。伙記 (fo2 gei3) |
| David: Employee. |
| Melody: 伙記 (fo2 gei3) [slow] 伙記 (fo2 gei3) [normal speed]。負責人 (fu6 zaak3 jan4) |
| David: The person in charge. |
| Melody: 負責人 (fu6 zaak3 jan4)[slow] 負責人 (fu6 zaak3 jan4) [normal speed]。姓 (sing3) |
| David: Surname. |
| Melody: 姓 (sing3) [slow] 姓 (sing3) [normal speed]。名 (meng2) |
| David: Given name. |
| Melody: 名 (meng2) [slow] 名 (meng2) [normal speed]。 |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Let’s take a closer look at some of these words. Our first word is |
| Melody: 搵 (wan2) |
| David: To look for. |
| Melody: 搵 (wan2) |
| David: To look for. |
| Melody: 譬如話:唔該，我要搵你嘅老闆。(pei3 jyu4 waa6, m4 goi1, ngo5 jiu3 wan2 nei5 ge3 lou5 baan2.) |
| David: Excuse me, I am looking for your boss. |
| Melody: 唔該，我要搵你嘅老闆。(m4 goi1, ngo5 jiu3 wan2 nei5 ge3 lou5 baan2.) |
| David: Right. Or excuse me, I am looking for your boss. |
| Melody: 或者係個老闆話:我要搵個秘書。(waak6 ze2 hai6 go3 lou5 baan2 waa6, ngo5 jiu3 wan2 go3 bei3 syu1.) |
| David: And that’s the word for boss. |
| Melody: 老闆 (lou5 baan2) |
| David: Boss. |
| Melody: 老闆 (lou5 baan2) |
| David: And actually that’s a pretty formal word. |
| Melody: 係呀，所以如果口語化，可以話「老細」。(hai6 aa3, so2 ji5 jyu4 gwo2 hau2 jyu5 faa3, ho2 ji5 waa6 “lou5 sai3”.) |
| David: Right, that’s a bit more casual. So if you are on good relations with your boss, you are going to call him... |
| Melody: 老細。(lou5 sai3.) |
| David: So we’ve got two words here. The first |
| Melody: 老闆 (lou5 baan2) |
| David: It’s a bit more formal. It’s like saying your employer whereas the second |
| Melody: 老細 (lou5 sai3) |
| David: It’s a bit like boss in English. |
| Melody: 冇錯。(mou5 co3.) |
| David: Let’s move on to our next word. |
| Melody: 伙記 (fo2 gei3) |
| David: Employee. |
| Melody: 伙記 (fo2 gei3) |
| David: Employee. |
| Melody: 譬如話:佢唔係老闆，係伙記。(pei3 jyu4 waa6, keoi5 m4 hai6 lou5 baan2, hai6 fo2 gei3.) |
| David: He is not the boss, he is a staff member. |
| Melody: 佢唔係老闆，係伙記。(keoi5 m4 hai6 lou5 baan2, hai6 fo2 gei3.) |
| David: He is not the employer, he is the employee. Now in our dialogue, we hear someone walking into a company and has to speak to the boss. |
| Melody: 但係其實佢係想搵個經理。(daan6 hai6 kei4 sat6 keoi5 hai6 soeng2 wan2 go3 ging1 lei5.) |
| David: Okay so maybe it’s not the boss. Maybe it is just the manager. |
| Melody: 經理。(ging1 lei5.) |
| David: And in most cases, the manager is the person in charge. |
| Melody: 負責人。(fu6 zaak3 jan4.) |
| David: Person in charge. |
| Melody: 負責人。(fu6 zaak3 jan4.) |
| David: Now if you are looking for someone in the company, the first place you have to go is to the front desk. |
| Melody: 前台。(cin4 toi4.) |
| David: Front desk. |
| Melody: 前台。咁前台會有秘書。(cin4 toi4 。gam3 cin4 toi4 wui5 jau5 bei3 syu1.) |
| David: Secretary. |
| Melody: 秘書。(bei3 syu1.) |
| David: The secretary is at the front counter. |
| Melody: 秘書喺前台嗰度。(bei3 syu1 hai2 cin4 toi4 go2 dou6.) |
| David: The secretary is at the front counter. |
| Melody: 秘書喺前台嗰度。(bei3 syu1 hai2 cin4 toi4 go2 dou6.) |
| David: So we have the words front desk |
| Melody: 前台 (cin4 toi4 ) |
| David: And the word for secretary. |
| Melody: 秘書 (bei3 syu1) |
| David: Right, and that’s both the private secretary as well as someone who is a receptionist. |
| Melody: 冇錯。(mou5 co3.) |
| David: Right. And our last two words are review. When you are asking for someone by name, you will need to know there is surname. |
| Melody: 姓 (sing3) |
| David: And their given name. |
| Melody: 名。姓，同埋名。(ming4. sing3, tung4 maai4 meng2.) |
| David: Right. In most cases, you should ask for someone by their last name. For now though, let’s get on to our grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: In our grammar point today, we want to cover this pattern. |
| Melody: 乜 ... 咩？(mat1 ... me1?) |
| David: Let’s hear that again. |
| Melody: 乜 ... 咩？(mat1 ... me1?) |
| David: We use this to ask questions. |
| Melody: 冇錯，呢個係好實用嘅。(mou5 co3, ni1 go3 hai6 hou2 sat6 jung6 ge3.) |
| David: Right and specifically we put it around a statement to turn that statement into a question. In our dialogue, we heard this in the following line. |
| Melody: 乜你哋有好多經理咩？(mat1 nei5 dei6 jau5 hou2 do1 ging1 lei5 me1?) |
| David: You’ve got more than one manager? |
| Melody: 乜你哋有好多經理咩？(mat1 nei5 dei6 jau5 hou2 do1 ging1 lei5 me1?) |
| David: You’ve got more than one manager? |
| Melody: 中間係一個句子「你哋有好多經理」。(zung1 gaan1 hai6 jat1 go3 geoi3 zi2 “nei5 dei6 jau5 hou2 do1 ging1 lei5“.) |
| David: Right. So in the middle of this pattern, we have a statement. In this sentence, it’s you’ve got more than one manager. |
| Melody: 你哋有好多經理。(nei5 dei6 jau5 hou2 do1 ging1 lei5.) |
| David: So we are just surrounding the statement with a pattern we learned earlier. |
| Melody: 乜...咩？ 乜你哋有好多經理咩？(mat1… me1? mat1 nei5 dei6 jau5 hou2 do1 ging1 lei5 me1?) |
| David: You’ve got more than one manager? |
| Melody: 乜你哋有好多經理咩？(mat1 nei5 dei6 jau5 hou2 do1 ging1 lei5 me1?) |
| David: Right, or literally you’ve got a lot of managers? |
| Melody: 所以呢個語法點非常之好用。(so2 ji3 ni1 go3 jyu5 faat3 dim2 fei1 soeng4 zi1 hou2 jung6.) |
| David: Right. Important thing to note though is that it’s not a simple question, right? |
| Melody: 係呀。(hai6 aa3.) |
| David: For simple questions, we don’t need to use this pattern. |
| Melody: 普通問題嘅話就直接話:你哋有好多經理咩？(pou2 tung1 man6 tai4 ge3 waa2 zau6 zik6 zip3 waa6, nei5 dei6 jau5 hou2 do1 ging1 lei5 me1?) |
| David: Right. So we don’t need that opening character to make this a question. Right, what happens though if we add that opening sound? |
| Melody: 乜你哋有好多經理咩？表示好懷疑，唔相信。(mat1 nei5 dei6 jau5 hou2 do1 ging1 lei5 me1? biu2 si6 hou2 waai4 ji4, m4 soeng1 seon3.) |
| David: Yeah it changes the meaning. It makes it sound surprised maybe even shocked. |
| Melody: 冇錯。「乜...咩」表示懷疑。(mou5 co3. “mat1… me1” biu2 si6 waai4 ji4.) |
| David: Okay let’s take a few more statements and turn them into questions where we are showing surprise. |
| Melody: 好呀。譬如話:你識呢度嘅老闆？(hou2 aa3. pei3 jyu4 waa6, nei5 sik1 ni1 dou6 ge3 lou5 baan2?) |
| David: That’s the statement. You know the boss here. |
| Melody: 如果變成問句「乜你識呢度嘅老闆咩？」(jyu4 gwo2 bin3 sing4 man6 geoi3 “mat1 nei5 sik1 ni1 dou6 ge3 lou5 baan2 me1?”) |
| David: You know the boss here, really? |
| Melody: 乜你識呢度嘅老闆咩？(mat1 nei5 sik1 ni1 dou6 ge3 lou5 baan2 me1?) |
| David: Let’s take a simpler sentence even such the sentence, you are the person responsible. |
| Melody: 你就係負責人。(nei5 zau6 hai6 fu6 zaak3 jan4.) |
| David: You are the person responsible. |
| Melody: 你就係負責人。(nei5 zau6 hai6 fu6 zaak3 jan4.) |
| David: To turn this into a question that sounds astonished, we surround this statement with our pattern. |
| Melody: 乜你就係負責人咩？(mat1 nei5 zau6 hai6 fu6 zaak3 jan4 me1?) |
| David: You are the one responsible, really dressed like that? |
| Melody: 乜你就係負責人咩？表示非常之驚訝。(mat1 nei5 zau6 hai6 fu6 zaak3 jan4 me1? biu2 si6 fei1 soeng4 zi1 ging1 ngaa2.) |
| David: Yeah I can’t believe it. So this is a small point and we are building on question patterns we’ve learned before. |
| Melody: 冇錯。(mou5 co3.) |
| David: The important thing is that by using this pattern, we are not just asking a question. We are expressing surprise and astonishment as in our dialogue. |
| Melody: 乜你哋有好多經理咩？(mat1 nei5 dei6 jau5 hou2 do1 ging1 lei5 me1?) |
| David: You’ve got a lot of managers? |
Outro |
| David: So that’s all the time we have for today. Before we go though, we want to remind you of one thing. |
| Melody: 結束之前提醒你哋。(git3 cuk1 zi1 cin4 tai4 sing2 nei5 dei6.) |
| David: Be sure to visit CantoneseClass101.com and check out our transcripts. |
| Melody: 非常之有用㗎。(fei1 soeng4 zi1 jau5 jung6 gaa3.) |
| David: Yes we’ve got the dialogue written down, the vocab list, we’ve put the grammar points and a cultural note to help you live in Hong Kong. |
| Melody: 實在太好喇。(sat6 zoi6 taai3 hou2 laa3.) |
| David: It’s really useful for getting the stuff to stick. For now though, as we said, that’s all the time we have. If you have questions, leave them on the site and we are going to look forward to hearing from you. |
| Melody: 希望見到你哋，今日嘅時間到此為止，我係Melody。(hei1 mong6 gin3 dou2 nei5 dei6, gam1 jat6 ge3 si4 gaan3 dou3 ci2 wai4 zi2, ngo5 hai6 Melody.) |
| David: And I am David. |
| Melody: 下次再見 (haa6 ci3 zoi3 gin3)，Bye bye. |
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