Learn how to say "no matter what you do, you can't do [something]"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to cantoneseclass101.com. I am David. |
| Nicole: 大家好，我係 ( daai6 gaa1 hou2 ，ngo5 hai6 ) Nicole。 |
| David: Upper intermediate, season 1, Lesson 6. Fixing A Leak in Hong Kong. |
| Nicole: 打電話搵人嚟整水喉。 ( daa2 din6 waa2 wan2 jan4 lei4 zing2 seoi2 hau4 。) |
| David: Or I think more accurately, getting other people to do the dirty work for you. |
| Nicole: 哈哈哈！比錢嘅。 (haa1 haa1 haa1 ！bei2 cin2 ge3 。) |
| David: Yeah. So Nicole, what’s happening in our dialogue today? |
| Nicole: Eh, 屋企條水喉爆咗, 打電話叫人嚟整。 (nguk1 kei5 tiu4 seoi2 hau4 baau3 zo2 , daa2 din6 waa2 giu3 jan4 lei4 zing2 。) |
| David: Yes and getting him to come over to fix. There hasn’t been any plumbing done in this house in the last 50 years more or less. So our dialogue is casual Cantonese as always. Let’s get to it. 500 bucks, it’s a bit expensive for a plumber. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:我廁所條水喉唔知出咗咩事，啲水流極都流唔落去，可唔可以幫我通通呀？ (A: ngo5 ci3 so2 tiu4 seoi2 hau4 m4 zi1 ceot1 zo2 me1 si6, di1 seoi2 lau4 gik6 dou1 lau4 m4 lok6 heoi3, ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bong1 ngo5 tung1 tung1 aa3?) |
| B: 冇問題，報個價比你先，一次維修500蚊。 (B: mou4 man6 tai4, bou3 go3 gaa3 bei2 nei5 sin1, jat1 ci3 wai4 sau1 ng5 baak3 man1.) |
| A: 啊，仲有仲有！我浴缸嘅水龍頭都好有問題，唔知點解會漏水，好煩呀。 (A: aa3, zung6 jau5 zung6 jau5! ngo5 juk6 gong1 ge3 seoi2 lung4 tau4 dou1 hou2 jau5 man6 tai4, m4 zi1 dim2 gaai2 wui5 lau6 seoi2, hou2 faan4 aa3.) |
| B: 等我過嚟幫你檢查下先，你晏晝四點鐘喺唔喺屋企？ (B: dang2 ngo5 gwo3 lai4 bong1 nei5 gim2 caa4 haa5 sin1, nei5 aan3 zau3 sei3 dim2 zung1 hai2 m4 hai2 uk1 kei2?) |
| A: 弊！天花板開始漏水！你即刻過嚟呀！ (A: bai6! tin1 faa1 baan2 hoi1 ci2 lau6 seoi2! nei5 zik1 haak1 gwo3 lai4 aa3!) |
| A: I don't know what happened to the pipe in my wash room. Why isn't the water flowing out? Can you help me clear the pipes? |
| B: No problem. I'll give you a quote. Each active maintenance is HK$500. |
| A: All right. My bathtub faucet also has a problem. I don't know why, but it leaks. It's really bothersome. |
| B: I'll come over and check it out for you. Will you be home at four p.m.? |
| A: Oh no! The ceiling started to leak. You should come over now. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Nicole: Eh, 但係一般市場價都係 500 蚊。 (daan6 hai6 jat1 bun1 si5 coeng4 gaa3 dou1 hai6 ng5 baak3 man1 。) |
| David: Well okay, I’ve not had a plumber in a while. Anyway our vocab today is useful in case you need one. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Nicole: 物業。 (mat6 jip6.) |
| David: Property manager. |
| Nicole: 物 業, 物業, 通渠。 (mat6 jip6, mat6 jip6, tung1 keoi4.) |
| David: To clean the pipe. |
| Nicole: 通 渠, 通渠, 維修。 (tung1 keoi4, tung1 keoi4, wai4 sau1.) |
| David: To maintain. |
| Nicole: 維 修, 維修, 裝修。 (wai4 sau1, wai4 sau1, zong1 sau1.) |
| David: To renovate. |
| Nicole: 裝 修, 裝修, 師傅。 (zong1 sau1 , zong1 sau1, si1 fu2. ) |
| David: Master. |
| Nicole: 師 傅, 師傅, 水喉。 (si1 fu2, si1 fu2, seoi2 hau4.) |
| David: Pipe. |
| Nicole: 水 喉, 水喉, 水渠。 (seoi2 hau4, seoi2 hau4, seoi2 keoi4.) |
| David: Big pipe. |
| Nicole: 水 渠, 水渠, 水龍頭。 (seoi2 keoi4, seoi2 keoi4, seoi2 lung4 tau4.) |
| David: Faucet. |
| Nicole: 水 龍 頭, 水龍頭。 (seoi2 lung4 tau4, seoi2 lung4 tau4.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Okay. Let’s take a closer look at some of these words and phrases. There are a lot of words for pipe. |
| Nicole: 冇錯有兩個, 分別係 “水喉”，”水渠”。 (mou5 co3 jau5 loeng5 go3 , fan1 bit6 hai6 “seoi2 hau4 ”，”seoi2 keoi4 ”。) |
| David: Right. One of them is small and one of them is big. The small one, Nicole. |
| Nicole: 水喉。 (seoi2 hau4 。) |
| David: Right. So if you have a plumber coming over to you and say, my pipe is clogged. |
| Nicole: 水喉塞咗。 (seoi2 hau4 sat1 zo2 。) |
| David: Right. Can you please clear out this pipe? |
| Nicole: 可唔可以幫我通下個水喉呀? (ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 bong1 ngo5 tung1 haa5 go3 seoi2 hau4 aa3 ?) |
| David: Right. And no matter how big the pipe is, use that word to describe it because it will be cheaper. If you - |
| Nicole: You know the trick. |
| David: If you refer to the other pipe. |
| Nicole: 水渠。 (seoi2 keoi4 。) |
| David: It’s going to be a lot more work. |
| Nicole: 唔，仲貴好多添！ (m4 ，zung6 gwai3 hou2 do1 tim1 ！) |
| David: So the question I have Nicole is what is the difference? I mean how big does a pipe have to get before it crosses over? |
| Nicole: 唔知，完全唔知。 ( m4 zi1 ，jyun4 cyun4 m4 zi1 。) |
| David: Okay. We also have the word Faucet. |
| Nicole: 水龍頭。 ( seoi2 lung4 tau4 。) |
| David: Right, which is water dragon head. |
| Nicole: 哈哈！(haa1 haa1 ！) Wow …. yeah, 水龍頭, 一個好好聽嘅名。 (seoi2 lung4 tau4 , jat1 go3 hou2 hou2 teng1 ge3 meng2 。) |
| David: It does actually. It does kind of look like the head of dragon crouching over the sink. |
| Nicole: Yeah it makes sense. |
| David: Yeah. |
| Nicole: Yeah. 睇落好似一個龍嘅頭咁樣, 所以叫水龍頭。 (tai2 lok6 hou2 ci5 jat1 go3 lung4 ge3 tau4 gam2 joeng2 , so2 ji3 giu3 seoi2 lung4 tau4 。) |
| David: Right. So we are no longer referring to them as faucets. We are now referring them as water dragon heads. One word we didn’t slip into the lesson is the word for sink. |
| Nicole: 水槽。 (seoi2 cou4 。) |
| David: Yeah. That’s a useful one too. |
| Nicole: 唔，水 槽。 (m4 ，seoi2 cou4 。) |
| David: So let’s just quickly review these four words. |
| Nicole: 水喉, 水渠, 水龍頭, 水槽。 (seoi2 hau4 , seoi2 keoi4 , seoi2 lung4 tau4 , seoi2 cou4 。) |
| David: In this lesson, we also have two words that mean to repair or to renovate. The first is |
| Nicole: 維修。 (wai4 sau1 。) |
| David: Which literally means maintenance, to maintain. |
| Nicole: 維修。 (wai4 sau1 。) |
| David: But in this context, it means to repair. |
| Nicole: 冇錯嘞！”修”，亦都可以講 “整”。 (mou5 co3 laak3 ！”sau1 ”，jik6 dou1 ho2 ji5 gong2 “zing2 ”。) |
| David: Right. And this is actually, it’s a generalizable word. You can use it with physical equipment like pipes. You can also use it with things like computer equipment where it’s literally just to keep things in shape, to do routine maintenance. |
| Nicole: 唔，冇錯，譬如電腦維修。 ( m4 ，mou5 co3 ，pei3 jyu4 din6 nou5 wai4 sau1 。) |
| David: Right. Computer maintenance. The second word here. |
| Nicole: 裝修。 (zong1 sau1 。) |
| David: Is used for physical property only. |
| Nicole: 唔，如果你話 “裝修”就會比 “維修” 洗多好多錢啦！ ( m4 ，jyu4 gwo2 nei5 waa6 “zong1 sau1 ”zau6 wui2 bei2 “wai4 sau1 ” sai2 do1 hou2 do1 cin2 laa3 ！) |
| David: Yeah. Very expensive too. The one other thing maybe we should just touch on is that word for master. |
| Nicole: 師傅。 (si1 fu2 。) |
| David: Right. This is an address you can use to describe anyone who is giving you a good service as skilled worker. So we can use it for plumbers. |
| Nicole: 師傅。 (si1 fu2 。) |
| David: Question. What about female plumbers as well as male plumbers? |
| Nicole: 喺香港呢我就未見過女性嘅通渠嘅師傅，不過我覺得你都可以叫師傅嘅。 (hai2 hoeng1 gong2 ne1 ngo5 zau6 mei6 gin3 gwo3 neoi5 sing3 ge3 tung1 keoi4 ge3 si1 fu2 ，bat1 gwo3 ngo5 gok3 dak1 nei5 dou1 ho2 ji5 giu3 si1 fu2 ge2 。) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: Yeah. It’s a flexible term. With that anyway, we are done the vocab section. Let’s go on to our grammar point. It’s grammar time. Okay, our grammar point today is a bit complex. So we are going to take it step by step. In previous lessons at previous levels, we’ve learned about verb complements. |
| Nicole: 冇錯，譬如話食唔飽。 ( mou5 co3 ，pei3 jyu4 waa6 sik6 m4 baau2 。) |
| David: Which would be to eat but not be full. |
| Nicole: 同埋講唔清楚。 (tung4 maai4 gong2 m4 cing1 co2 。) |
| David: Or to speak but not be clear. Let’s hear those again. |
| Nicole: 食唔飽, 講唔清楚。 ( sik6 m4 baau2 , gong2 m4 cing1 co2 。) |
| David: These are verbs and their complements and specifically we are talking about the negative forms today. So I eat but I can’t eat my fill. I speak but I can’t speak clearly. At easier levels, we’ve stopped there with simple sentences like |
| Nicole: 我食唔飽。 ( ngo5 sik6 m4 baau2 。) |
| David: I can’t eat full. |
| Nicole: 佢講唔清楚。 ( keoi5 gong2 m4 cing1 co2 。) |
| David: He is not making any sense to me. In this lesson at the intermediate level, we want to step things up with a more complex structure. This structure is used but no matter what you do, you can’t do something. It is expressed as a verb complement. For instance, no matter how much I eat, I can’t eat my fill. |
| Nicole: 食極都食唔飽。 ( sik6 gik6 dou1 sik6 m4 baau2 。) |
| David: Let’s hear that really slowly and really clearly. |
| Nicole: 食 極 都 食 唔 飽。( sik6 gik6 dou1 sik6 m4 baau2 。) |
| David: There is no subject in that sentence. Let’s take a look at the pattern that we are hearing. First comes the verb. |
| Nicole: 食。 (sik6 。) |
| David: Then |
| Nicole: 極 都。 (gik6 dou1 。) |
| David: And the our normal verb and its complement in the negative form. Once again |
| Nicole: 食 極 都 食 唔 飽。 (sik6 gik6 dou1 sik6 m4 baau2 。) |
| David: Let’s hear that with the second example we picked. To speak not clearly. Under our new structure, that becomes |
| Nicole: 講極都講唔清楚。 (gong2 gik6 dou1 gong2 m4 cing1 co2 。) |
| David: Let’s slow that down. |
| Nicole: 講 極 都 講 唔 清 楚。 ( gong2 gik6 dou1 gong2 m4 cing1 co2 。) |
| David: So we’ve got a two-part structure. For instance, in a sentence, we might say, no matter how hard I try to explain, I can’t make it clear. |
| Nicole: 講極都講唔清楚。 (gong2 gik6 dou1 gong2 m4 cing1 co2 。) |
| David: No matter how hard I try to explain, I can’t make it clear. |
| Nicole: 講極都講唔清楚。 (gong2 gik6 dou1 gong2 m4 cing1 co2 。) |
| David: Right. This is a general pattern you can use with any verb that takes a complement in the negative form. You do something but no matter how hard you are trying, verb negative complement. We’ve got a couple of short examples for you. Nicole? |
| Nicole: 譬如話 呢條水喉整極都整唔好。 (pei3 jyu4 waa6 ni1 tiu4 seoi2 hau4 zing2 gik6 dou1 zing2 m4 hou2 。) |
| David: This pipe no matter how hard I try to fix it, I can’t fix it. |
| Nicole: 呢條水喉整極都整唔好。 (ni1 tiu4 seoi2 hau4 zing2 gik6 dou1 zing2 m4 hou2 。) |
| David: And notice here how the object the pipe is fronting the sentence because we can’t split up the structure. We’ve got to put it in front of the sentence to provide context. One more time, no matter how hard I try to fix this pipe, I can’t. |
| Nicole: 呢條水喉整極都整唔好。 (ni1 tiu4 seoi2 hau4 zing2 gik6 dou1 zing2 m4 hou2 。) |
| David: Another example might be the subway. No matter how hard I try to cram on to the subway, I can’t. |
| Nicole: 部地鐵點迫都迫唔上。 (bou6 dei6 tit3 dim2 bik1 dou1 bik1 m4 soeng5 。) |
| David: Once again, the object, the subway is fronting the sentence. |
| Nicole: 部地鐵點迫都迫唔上。 (bou6 dei6 tit3 dim2 bik1 dou1 bik1 m4 soeng5 。) |
| David: No matter how much I try to squeeze on, I can’t. So in review, we’ve got a new structure for you. |
| Nicole: 冇錯就係 [Verb] 極都。 (mou5 co3 zau6 hai6 [Verb] gik6 dou1 。) |
| David: We put this in front of a negative form of that verb in its compliment. For example, |
| Nicole: 食極都食唔飽。 (sik6 gik6 dou1 sik6 m4 baau2 。) |
| David: To try really hard to eat but not be able to eat full or |
| Nicole: 講極都講唔清楚。 (gong2 gik6 dou1 gong2 m4 cing1 co2 。) |
| David: To try very hard to speak but be unable to explain. And this is actually a pretty complex structure. So if you are having problems with it, we highly recommend you check out our premium PDFs. |
| Nicole: 冇錯嘞！你 download 咗個 PDF 之後呢, 你就可以睇到所有嘅解釋同埋例子。 (mou5 co3 laak3 ！nei5 download zo2 go3 PDF zi1 hau6 ne1 , nei5 zau6 ho2 ji5 tai2 dou2 so2 jau5 ge3 gaai2 sik1 tung4 maai4 lai6 zi2 。) |
Outro |
| David: Yeah and they are in the premium learning center. Be sure to go check that out. For now though, that is all the time we have. Coming to you from Hong Kong, I am David. |
| Nicole: 我係 (ngo5 hai6) Nicole。 |
| David: Thanks for listening and we will see you on the site. |
| Nicole: 下次見 (haa6 ci3 gin3), Bye Bye. |
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