Learn how to say "even if"
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to cantoneseclass101.com. I am David. |
| Nicole: 大家好，我係Nicole。(daai6 gaa1 hou2, ngo5 hai6 Nicole.) |
| David: And we are here today with an upper beginner, season 1, lesson 23. Standing Room Tickets Only on the Chinese Train. |
| Nicole: 冇錯，去中國嘅車票。(mou5 co3, heoi3 zung1 gwok3 ge3 ce1 piu3.) |
| David: Yeah. So our lesson is going to cover a lot of Chinese cities and we are going to hear how to say their names in Cantonese as well as pretty tricky grammar point but first as always, we have a dialogue. Nicole, what’s happening here? |
| Nicole: 係關於要買飛，但係買唔到飛嘅。(hai6 gwaan1 jyu1 jiu3 maai5 fei1, daan6 hai6 maai5 m4 dou3 fei1 ge3.) |
| David: Yeah. Someone is going to try to buy tickets, but they are going to fail and they are going to try to do it all in casual Cantonese as always. Let’s get to our dialogue. |
| Nicole: 好。(hou2.) |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:請問有冇去上海嘅火車飛？ (cing2 man6 jau5 mou5 heoi3 soeng6 hoi2 ge3 fo2 ce1 fei1?) |
| B:冇臥鋪，就剩坐票咋。 (mou5 ngo6 pou1, zau6 zing6 co5 piu3 zaa3. ) |
| A:咁去杭州嘅票呢？ (gam2 heoi3 hong4 zau1 ge3 piu3 ne1? ) |
| B:連坐票都冇，只有站票。(lin4 co2 piu3 dou1 mou5, zi2 jau5 zaam6 piu3.) |
| David: Once more, a bit more slowly. |
| A:請問有冇去上海嘅火車飛？ (cing2 man6 jau5 mou5 heoi3 soeng6 hoi2 ge3 fo2 ce1 fei1?) |
| B:冇臥鋪，就剩坐票咋。 (mou5 ngo6 pou1, zau6 zing6 co5 piu3 zaa3. ) |
| A:咁去杭州嘅票呢？ (gam2 heoi3 hong4 zau1 ge3 piu3 ne1? ) |
| B:連坐票都冇，只有站票。 |
| David: And now, with the English translation. |
| A:請問有冇去上海嘅火車飛？ (cing2 man6 jau5 mou5 heoi3 soeng6 hoi2 ge3 fo2 ce1 fei1?) |
| A: Are there any tickets left on the train to Shanghai? |
| B:冇臥鋪，就剩坐票咋。 (mou5 ngo6 pou1, zau6 zing6 co5 piu3 zaa3. ) |
| B: There are no more beds, only seats left. |
| A:咁去杭州嘅票呢？(gam2 heoi3 hong4 zau1 ge3 piu3 ne1? ) |
| A: Then, how about to Hangzhou? |
| B:連坐票都冇，只有站票。(lin4 co2 piu3 dou1 mou5, zi2 jau5 zaam6 piu3.) |
| B: Not even seats are available. Standing tickets only. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: Right. So this lesson is for anyone who needs to go to the Mainland for business or pleasure. |
| Nicole: 冇錯，而家越嚟越多人去大陸。(mou5 co3, ji4 gaa1 jyut6 lei4 jyut6 do1 jan4 heoi3 daai6 luk6.) |
| David: Yeah. I mean you can’t take the plane but the train is – it’s cheaper and it’s more convenient a lot of the times too. |
| Nicole: 係呀，火車而家好方便㗎喇。(hai6 aa3, fo2 ce1 ji4 gaa1 hou2 fong1 bin6 gaa3 laa3.) |
| David: Yeah, anyway, let’s get right to our vocab section which is going to start with the names of some places you might be visiting. |
| Nicole: Okay. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Nicole: 上海 (soeng6 hoi2) |
| David: Shanghai. |
| Nicole: 上海 (soeng6 hoi2) [slow] 上海 (soeng6 hoi2) [normal speed]。北京 (baak1 ging1) |
| David: Beijing. |
| Nicole: 北京 (baak1 ging1) [slow] 北京 (baak1 ging1) [normal speed]。杭州 (hong4 zau1) |
| David: Hongqiao |
| Nicole: 杭州 (hong4 zau1) [slow] 杭州 (hong4 zau1) [normal speed]。火車 (fo2 ce1) |
| David: Train. |
| Nicole: 火車 (fo2 ce1) [slow] 火車 (fo2 ce1) [normal speed]。飛 (fei1) |
| David: Ticket. |
| Nicole: 飛 (fei1) [slow] 飛 (fei1) [normal speed]。票 (piu3) |
| David: Ticket. |
| Nicole: 票 (piu3) [slow] 票 ((piu3)) [normal speed]。臥鋪票 (ngo6 pou1 piu3) |
| David: Soft sleeper ticket. |
| Nicole: 臥鋪票 (ngo6 pou1 piu3) [slow] 臥鋪票 (ngo6 pou1 piu3) [normal speed]。 坐票 (co5 piu3) |
| David: Sitting ticket. |
| Nicole: 坐票 (co5 piu3) [slow] 坐票 (co5 piu3) [normal speed]。企票 (kei2 piu3) |
| David: Standing only ticket. |
| Nicole: 企票 (kei2 piu3) [slow] 企票 (kei2 piu3) [normal speed]。站票 (zaam6 piu3) |
| David: Standing only ticket. |
| Nicole: 站票 (zaam6 piu3) [slow] 站票 (zaam6 piu3) [normal speed]。 |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Right. So once again, the key thing here is the list of nouns. You know, useful vocab if you are taking the train. If you are traveling to Mainland, China, first things first, you should know the names of these three cities. |
| Nicole: 冇錯，分別係:上海 (mou5 co3, fan1 bit6 hai6: soeng5 hoi2) |
| David: Shanghai. |
| Nicole: 北京 (bak1 ging1) |
| David: Beijing. |
| Nicole: 杭州 (hong4 zau1) |
| David: And that’s Hongqiao which is not far from Shanghai actually. |
| Nicole: Yeah. |
| David: Yeah. |
| Nicole: It’s a nice place. |
| David: Yeah it’s a very nice place. Other places you may be traveling in China include of course the Province of Guangdong. |
| Nicole: 廣東 (gwong2 dung1) but the name of the city is 廣州. (gwong2 zau1.) |
| David: Right. So in English, the city and the province are the same. In Cantonese, that is not. First there is the province. |
| Nicole: 廣東。(gwong2 dung1.) |
| David: And then there is the city. |
| Nicole: 廣州。(gwong2 zau1.) |
| David: In addition to those three, there are some other cities you might want to know how to say. Near Beijing, there is the port city of Tianjin. |
| Nicole: 天津。(tin1 zeon1.) |
| David: So three important cities... |
| Nicole: 上海，北京，杭州。(soeng5 hoi2, bak1 ging1, hong4 zau1.) |
| David: Moving on, we’ve got a lot of train related vocabulary here. |
| Nicole: 冇錯。(mou5 co3.) |
| David: Obviously that is the word for train. |
| Nicole: 火車。(fo2 ce1.) |
| David: Right and then we have two words for tickets. |
| Nicole: One is 飛 (fei1) and the other is 票。(piu3.) |
| David: Is there any difference between those two? |
| Nicole: 票 (piu3) is more formal, while 飛 (fei1) is more colloquial. |
| David: Yeah. So you can say train ticket two ways. |
| Nicole: 火車票 (fo2 ce1 piu3) and 火車飛。(fo2 ce1 fei1.) |
| David: As in the sentence, I want a train ticket. |
| Nicole: 我要一張火車票。(ngo5 jiu3 jat1 zoeng1 fo2 ce1 piu3.) |
| David: Now when you are traveling on the train to China, people are going to ask you what kind of ticket you want especially when you crossover into Mainland China. If you leave from Hong Kong, you are often just stuck with the soft sleeper. There are different categories of tickets. There is the soft sleeper. |
| Nicole: 臥鋪票。(ngo6 pou1 piu3.) |
| David: Which is usually overnight and it’s got a bed. |
| Nicole: Yeah. |
| David: You’ve also got sitting tickets. |
| Nicole: 坐票。(co5 piu3.) |
| David: And then when it’s very busy or on Chinese New Year’s, you might only be able to buy standing-room only tickets. |
| Nicole: And there are two ways to say that. 站票(zaam6 piu3) and 企票(kei5 piu3). |
| David: Right and for all of these of course, you don’t need to say |
| Nicole: 票 (piu3) |
| David: You can say |
| Nicole: 飛 (fei1) |
| David: Instead and with that, let’s get to our grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: In our grammar point today, we want to talk about a construction. Nicole, what is this? |
| Nicole: It’s 連 (lin4) something 都 (dou1) verb. |
| David: Right and this translates into English something along the lines of even X can verb. For instance, in our dialogue, we heard |
| Nicole: 連坐票都冇，只有站票。(lin4 co5 piu3 dou1 mou5, zi2 jau5 zaam6 piu3.) |
| David: There aren’t even any seats left. Standing room only. |
| Nicole: 連坐票都冇，只有站票。(lin4 co5 piu3 dou1 mou5, zi2 jau5 zaam6 piu3.) |
| David: Right and that’s a really common way this is used in Cantonese. You have this used introducing a clause that then clarifies things. We’ve got some example sentences to make you even clear how to use this. Unlike our dialogue though, we are going to start with affirmative sentences, some non-negative ones. |
| Nicole: Right. |
| David: Nicole, what’s sentence one? |
| Nicole: 連佢都做得到，點解你唔得？(lin4 keoi5 dou1 zou6 dak1 dou2, dim2 gaai2 nei5 m4 dak1? ) |
| David: Right. Two clauses there. Let’s listen to the first again. |
| Nicole: 連佢都做得到 (lin4 keoi5 dou1 zou6 dak1 dou2) |
| David: Even he can do it. |
| Nicole: 連佢都做得到 (lin4 keoi5 dou1 zou6 dak1 dou2) |
| David: Followed up with another clause why can’t you. |
| Nicole: 點解你唔得？(dim2 gaai2 nei5 m4 dak1? ) |
| David: So together |
| Nicole: 連佢都做得到，點解你唔得？(lin4 keoi5 dou1 zou6 dak1 dou2, dim2 gaai2 nei5 m4 dak1? ) |
| David: Right. The next sentence is Nicole’s |
| Nicole: 連呢個你都食？肥死你呀！(lin4 ni1 go3 nei5 dou1 sik6? fei4 sei2 nei5 aa3!) |
| David: Right. It’s something you say to somebody who is eating all the time. |
| Nicole: Yeah maybe to yourself. 連呢個你都食？肥死你呀！(lin4 ni1 go3 nei5 dou1 sik6? fei4 sei2 nei5 aa3!) |
| David: Right. So if you find yourself going back to the fridge, you could say that to yourself. It’s even this you eat, you fatty. |
| Nicole: 連呢個你都食？肥死你呀！(lin4 ni1 go3 nei5 dou1 sik6? fei4 sei2 nei5 aa3!) |
| David: Yeah even this emphatic and then the verb there is to eat. Now we see this in the negative as well in our dialogue as well as often in real life, it’s used negatively. Nicole, we got two examples here. |
| Nicole: 連老師都唔喺度，我哋上咩課呀？(lin4 lou5 si1 dou1 m4 hai2 dou6, ngo5 dei6 soeng5 me1 fo3 aa3? ) |
| David: If even the teacher hasn’t come, what class can we attend? |
| Nicole: 連老師都唔喺度，我哋上咩課呀？(lin4 lou5 si1 dou1 m4 hai2 dou6, ngo5 dei6 soeng5 me1 fo3 aa3? ) |
| David: If even the teacher isn’t here, what class can we attend? Another example might be if you went to a restaurant and they didn’t have fried rice, now you might say, what kind of restaurant are you if you don’t even have fried rice? |
| Nicole: 連炒飯都冇？點開餐廳㗎！(lin4 caau2 faan6 dou1 mou5? dim2 hoi1 caan1 teng1 gaa3!) |
| David: You call yourself a restaurant without even fried rice? |
| Nicole: 連炒飯都冇？點開餐廳㗎！(lin4 caau2 faan6 dou1 mou5? dim2 hoi1 caan1 teng1 gaa3!) |
| David: So remember, the construction is |
| Nicole: 連 (lin4) Something 都 (dou1) verb. |
| David: And we follow this up with another clause that clarifies this. For instance, |
| Nicole: 連坐票都冇，只有站票。(lin4 co5 piu3 dou1 mou5, zi2 jau5 zaam6 piu3.) |
Outro |
| David: Not even seats are available, standing room only and with that word, the end of our lesson. Before we go though Nicole, there is something that you wanted to remind people. |
| Nicole: That’s right. On our website, there is a great voice recording tool. |
| David: Right. It’s in the premium learning center for every lesson and what it lets you do is it lets you record your voice and then show how it actually sounds. |
| Nicole: That’s right. |
| David: So you can compare it to the recordings we have on the site and make sure you are getting your terms right. For now though, that is all the time we have. From Hong Kong, I am David. |
| Nicole: I am Nicole. |
| David: Thanks for listening and we will see you on the site. |
| Nicole: Bye bye. |
Easily master this lesson’s grammar points with in-depth explanations and examples. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Comments
Hide