Your First 10 Words of Cantonese:

Your First 10 Words of Cantonese:

	English	Cantonese	Comments
1	Hello	l’Ai hO	Nasal ‘l’ Alt ‘nAi hO’ (non-nasal ‘n’) Mandarin ‘ni hao’
2	Goodbye	bYe-bai	Bye-Bye is ok. Same in Mandarin
3	Good	hO	Usually ‘ho-wah, ho-wah, ho-wah’
4	Bad	mmm’hO	Mmm means ‘Opposite’ of the next word used, usually! Nasal ‘mmm’ as in mumming
5	Please	cheung mmm goi	Usually stated simply as ‘mmm’goi’ – see below
6	Ok	mO-men-tie Ok-la	Coll. Ok-l. Characters: 冇問題 Opposite = ‘yO-men-tai’ = ‘not ok’
7	Yes	hye	Is not often used, use ‘ho’ instead unless ‘y/n’ question
8	No	mO-wah	mo + wah for emphasis! Mandarin = ma-yo – as in Hellman’s
9	Toilet	sIe saow Pronounce as: sigh sow (female pig) Normally written as: sai sau or ‘WC’	·         Lit: ‘Wash hands’ ·         Sigh means toilet only, but is rude ·         Green sign. o        Toilets: 廁所 o       Gents: 男界 o        Ladies: 女界 ·         Toilets are often mixed sex ·         Take your own toilet paper! (‘sigh zEi’ 廁紙 ) Boys: Mime by squatting – Only!
10	I don’t understand	mmm d’zhee dOh!	Mandarin = tim-per-donk

Keyword:

 

men tai

v      men tai                  problem

v      yaow men tai      big problem

v      mO men tai          OK, no problem

v      yO men tai           not OK, little problem

sIe - pronounce as ‘sigh’

v      We are spelling this ‘sIe’ = phonetic ‘s’ and ‘e’, Capital sounding’i’

v      Meaning 1 = wash + object

v      Meaning 2 = West character  西

v      Meaning 3 = Polite, self-depricating platitude, as used with ‘mmm goi’ below

Note:

1. Most Cantonese cannot tell the difference between ‘L’ and ‘N’, when used as nasal sounds. As common to most local people, I have used the ‘L’ preference. Other phrasebooks and people from Hong Kong usually use the ‘n’ spelling

10 Words More – Being Polite

11	Please	mmm goi	There are about 20 variations of these two phrases – Only use these 4 to start with… Local speakers may say ‘mmm goi-ah’ instead of ‘mmm goi sai’ – but first you need to speak the local languages
12	Thank you	mmm goi
13	Thank You for Service	mmm goi sai
14	My pleasure You are welcome	mmm sai
15	My great pleasure	mmm sai hI hAi!	You are most welcome
16	No thank you	mmm sai mmm goi	Politely say ‘no’ to more: Food, drink, etc
17	Great thank you	doh d’zheei	Do not use this in normal speech. Reserved for receiving or giving a very special: gift, accolade, service or honour only. It is also very difficult to pronounce properly!
18	Great my pleasure	mmm doh d’zheei sai
19	Excuse me	mmm-hO yee see	Said as ‘mO-ee-see’, almost! Leaving a table, etc
20	Classifier / Counter: Number of something ‘xxx of xxx’	gor	Mandarin ger.  ‘r’ is silent for both languages, ‘o’ uses a nasal seal sound Usage: 6 people, 5 x 4’s at dice, cards, repeated numbers.

Keywords:

 

mmm goi, mmm sai

v      Use for Please, Thank you, and all variations in daily speech

Note:

1. Cantonese speakers do not have the ‘R’ sound at all!
1. This is a very big problem for them, and they usually, use a non-nasal ‘L’ instead
2. Mandarin speakers do have the ‘R’ sound, and can roll-it

10 Words More for Refreshments

21	Eat, meal, dinner	sic fan	Written as ‘xi fan’. fan = rice, min/fun = noodles
22	Drink	yuaam	General, non specific word for fluids
23	Hungry	tong-nor
24	Full, replete; burp	hO bao	Usually shortened to ‘bao-ah
25	Street restaurant	seeU yeahr	Usually late evenings – and throughout the night!
26	Female or Waitress	leun(g) loi	(g) is pronounced 10% only. Zhi as in ‘Zion’. leun(g) means beautiful. Mandarin = lang liU
27	Male or Waiter	leun(g) zhi
28	The bill	mai dan	Saying: ‘My Dan’ is fine. ‘My Dan-na’ is local speaking
29	Beer / alcohol	bAi d’zhao	‘bAi’ as in Bay leaf; Zh = J as in jow Mandarin ‘Pee Jew’ (Versions:  ‘Bee Jew’)
30	Water	soi	Mandarin: Shway

Keyword:

 

zhao

1. bAi d’zhao          Beer
2. hong d’zhao       Wine
3. bah d’zhao          Rice wine
4. zhao dim              Hotel

Vegetarians:

1. The official Cantonese phrase is ‘sic zhaai’ or ‘hek sou’, which nobody will understand!
2. Your best bet is to convey that you are a Buddhist, as everybody knows Buddhists do not eat meat. Try ‘fat-fat’ and ‘fat gao tou’ when you get stuck, or…..
3. Go to a Vegetarian Restaurant
4. Calling a friend is ok, and may bring forth the required results?
1. 50-50 and asking the audience will get you nowhere
2. Vegan’s should pick another country, sorry

10 More and You Are on the Money

31	Money - Using	mun	Mandarin = kwai	元
32	Money - Currency	yuan	¥ = yuan = Money or RMB Cantonese: yuan mun bai Mandarin : Ren Min Be	¥
33	How much	gAy chin	Coll. ‘gAy chin-ah’
34	Too expensive	hO gui	‘hO gwi’ is ok to begin with
35	Maybe – weak	hO lan	Maybe I won’t
36	Maybe – strong	wah d’zhair	Maybe I will
37	Huge, Great, King	qin	Also ‘tian’,  ‘tien’ and ‘chin’ are correct	天
38	Large	dai	Often ‘dai-dai’ Mandarin ‘da’	大
39	Little, small	siU	Coll. siu-siu Mandarin ‘xiao’	小
40	Few, smaller, less	siU	Said the same, but different character	少

Keywords:

 

mun

1. Money
2. Mosquito = same sound, same English spelling, different character, different usage. Splat!

gui means: ghost, hence:

v        gui-lo = white western person (Lit. interpretation: white ghost). There are other meanings of course lol; but used as Westerner’s say: ‘Chink’ or ‘Chinky’. Normally not offensive, but can be, or a compliment

gwi means: terrapin, turtle, or tortoise

10 Words for People

41	Person	yun	Includes: One person, Many, Male, Female, Mix
42	Me	n-gor	Try to say ‘Knorr’ as in the soup, but with the ‘o’ sounding like a seal or sea lion call (Hollow and Nasal)
43	You	lAi	As in ‘Lay Lady, Lay…’
44	Girl	moo-yi	If you talk to an ‘undefined’ girl, use the word ‘loi’. If you speak about a particular girl, no matter what age, use ‘mooi’ instead. Mooi-mooi = baby or young girl esp. ‘Sister’
45	Boy	zhI	You are very safe to use either ‘Girl’ or ‘Boy’ to define any person in China. Zhi-Zhi means young boy etc
46	Father	baba	For ‘Papa’. Cantonese usually say ‘b’ instead of ‘p’
47	Mother	mama	This is about the time you start worrying about how different the most basic words of human existence are…
48	Baby	ba-bAi
49	Friend	pun(g) - yaow	Often prefixed to denote sex or level of friendship
50	Name	gEU	20% ‘E’. ‘n-gor gEU xxx’ = my name is xxx.

Keyword:

 

n-gor

1. A rapidly changing word, with older mainlanders using a very full pronunciation
2. Modern young mainlanders will use the pronunciation given above
3. 20-somethings in Hong Kong have already shortened this to ‘aw’ or even ‘o’ sounds

pun(g) yaow

4. loi pung yaow                   girl friend
5. lam pung yaow                  boy friend
6. hO pung yaow                   good friend
7.  

Notes:

Cantonese nearly always use ‘b’ instead of the more Western ‘p’; hence Baba vs Papa

‘P’ does exist in it’s own right.

Let’s Get Moving

51	Taxi	dak-CEi	Mainlanders usually swap ‘t’ for ‘d’. Hong Kong does not
52	Straight on	d’zhik hoi	Try ‘zik’ to begin with, then improve this sound
53	Turn left	jin jor	jin sounds very like the name Jean, but shorter like ‘jien’
54	Turn right	jin yaow
55	Left	jor bin	bin= On the, too the: + direction
56	Right	yaow bin
57	Traffic Lights	hong lop dAng	Lit. red green light. Alt. ‘dAng wei’
58	Bus	baah-CEE	CEi, CEE or see
59	Main Bus Station	cheir z’zham	1% 'r'. Bus Stop = baah-CEE z’zham
60	Aeroplane	fAi gAy	Airport =  fAi cheurng

Keywords:

‘cheir’ and ‘CEE’

v      We pronounce this ‘CEE’ as in ‘see’ – as a great generalisation. It may alter slightly depending upon the Chinese character it relates to and it’s common local daily useage

o        ‘cheir’ means car 1% ‘r’

o        four cheir means lorry

o        baa CEE means bus

10 Useful Words

61	Here	li-dO	As in English, these 2 words are relatively interchangeable. ‘r’ is pronounced correctly … weird!
62	There	gor-dO
63	Go, Come	hoi	To go … be somewhere else is actual meaning
64	Electricity	din	‘din wah’ means (mobile) phone (Simple version)
65	Bodily functions	au	au liu – urinate au pAi = pass wind au xi = number two au xi soi = diarrhoea	Not polite, but not too bad either, and simple! Think ‘Piss’ vs ‘Urinate’ French ‘au’ sound used
66	Heah! or Hey!	wYEEi?	First word you say in a phone conversation
67	Where are you	hI bin dOh	Normal form of greetings for friends on the telephone
68	Where is ‘xyz’	hoi bin dOh	Use for both people and things
69	How are you?	lAi hO ma ?	Do not use this as a general greeting: see below…
70	Have you eaten (rice) today?	lAi sic fan mAi-ya? Or sic lAi mut yeahr?	This is what all-Chinese say as formal and informal greeting. Only very good friends say ‘Wyeei. lAi-hO, hI bin dOh?’

Keywords:

 

din  电

v      Basically anything to do with electricity

v      You can use this for such diverse things as: Lightning, power, light and light bulb, static shock, any electrical appliance or function

v      Try to learn ‘din wah’ = mobile phone. Lit. Electric talking

v      Similar with ‘jin’ and ‘lin’, there is a very slight 5% ‘e’ sound between the ‘i’ and ‘n’ = di(e)n

wah  华

v      Means language or ‘way of speaking’ or talking

v      Sounds almost identical to the Mandarin ‘hua’

v      You will use this word far more than you imagine

More Useful Words

71	Very	fAi sheurng	‘sheurng’ is used in association with many other words Shanghai is called ‘sheurng hOi’ in Cantonese It can mean: ‘Up, top, previous, main, best, etc)
72	Photograph	ying sheurng
73	Wake up	sheurng jaw
74	Sleep	fun gao
75	Hot	ye-euh	hO ye-euh means very hot (Weather, drink, I’m hot, etc)
76	Cold	dong	As above usage : ‘hO dong’ it is cold. ‘dong-ah’ for cold drink
77	Hotel	zhao dim		酒店
78	Finish (Work)	gaao dim	9 o’clock = ‘gao dim’
79	Conversation	gong yeahr	Speak to somebody
80	Die	sAi jaw	Coll. Get married (End of a [boys] single life)

Let’s Count for 100

81	Zero	len	Actually ‘lien’ with 10% ‘i’ Mandarin Ling	零
82	1	yut	One (Person, Number, etc) Mandarin = ee	一
83	2	leurng or yee	For Calculations & specified numbers use ‘yee’ (10% ‘y’) Use ‘leurng’ whenever possible = pair, couple, double etc (Sounds very like Mandarin ‘ee’) Mandarin = e’ur.	二
84	3	sam	Mandarin = san	三
85	4	sAy	Mandarin = s’eur	四
86	5	mmm	Mandarin = wu	五
87	6	lop	10% ‘P’ sound Mandarin = liu Cantonese phrasebooks will always use ‘luk’ = Wrong!	六
88	7	t’chyut	Please say ‘tut’ to begin, the ‘Tchy’ sound is complex Mandarin = chee or qi	七
89	8	bak	Be very careful with this sound, very short, flat with sharp ‘k’ Mandarin = ba	八
90	9	gao	gao also means Dog (Coll. gao-gao) Mandarin = niu (Also jiu)	九
91	10	sup	Written as ‘+’, so do not get confused with English ‘add’ Mandarin = sh-uer or shi	十
92	Defined number, Classifier	Number + ‘gor’	Persons at a table, number of weeks, Dice and Card Games, etc	個
93	100	baak	Long and flat sound… See ‘8’ above. Now practice saying 888… Mandarin bai	百
94	1, 000	qin	Alt: ‘tien’, ‘qian’, ‘chin’. Can mean ‘Money’ & ‘A Grand’ Mandarin tian	千
95	10, 000	maah	Chinese do not count higher than this! For higher numbers they simply add component parts Mandarin wan	万
96	1, 000, 000	baak maah	1 million is said as ‘One Hundred, Ten-Thousand: (100 x 10,000)	百万
97	Half	boon	General word: ‘yut boon/ boon’ = ‘One half and a half’ Mandarin ‘ban’. Cantonese character is slightly different	半
98	50-50	mmm sup/ mmm sup	Used often - Has very similar usage to above
99	Decimal Currency 1	jiow角	1 yuan元 = 10 jiao角 1 jiao = 10 fen分 Mandarin Jiao.
100	Dozen	daa	Mandarin ‘da’	打

Special Numbers and Using Numbers

Note:

1.       Special numbers:

                                                               i.      Not listed here, but special numbers do exist for: 20, 30, 40, etc.

                                                             ii.      As is ‘Old’ England, products are often sold by the dozen.

2.       Composite numbers - Highest first, hence: 888 = bak baak, bak sup, bak

3.       Using Numbers:

                                                               i.      10 people for dinner = ‘sup gor yun’

                                                             ii.      I have 3 x 6’s = ‘sam gor lop’

                                                           iii.      Phone numbers can be stated: 888002222 = ‘sam gor bak, leurng len, sai gor yee’

4.       Money, let’s say: 92.50元 = “Gao sup leurng mun – boon” = ie Number + mun + ‘and a half’

5.       Year Date: Use numbers separately: Hence 2008 = yee len len bak lin

One-handed Counting

You will find it extremely useful to learn to count up to 19 using just the digits of your right hand. Not only is this very practicable in noisy situation – like playing dice in a nightclub – but you will also find it very useful  in daily situations. For example: You walk into a restaurant and the waitress immediately says something to you. She is asking how many people will be at your table. She may not speak Cantonese, nor any recognisable form of Mandarin. Simply say s above, but also hold out your hand indicating the number. Easy!

Here’s how we count:

Take your right hand and hold in front of you with palm inwards

1.         Closed fist, thumb hidden,  index finger extended horizontally

2.         As above, index and middle finger extended

3.         As above, index, middle and third finger extended

4.         As above, all fingers extended

5.         All fingers and thumb extended vertically

6.         Vertical closed fist with thumb and pinky extended horizontally ( --nnn-- )

7.         Closed fist, index finger pointing down, thumb pointing to your left – then rotate this to read 9.30 hours

8.         Two versions:

a)         Thumb and index finger either side of your nose, and pull away in a sweeping gesture

b)         As 7 above, but index finger at 9.30 and thumb at 12.30

9.         Closed fist sideways (Thumb to you). Raise the middle joint of your index finger

10.      Simply a closed fist

For numbers between 10 and 19, simply make two very quick number signs as one movement, so ten (Closed fist) first, followed by integer sign

You can actually use this method to count up to 99 – but this is quite rare. In this case there are three movements as if one: tens value, followed by closed fist (ten), followed by number less than ten

Usage for dice:

 Having learnt to count as above, here is a brief introduction to usage:

a.       Six fours is stated as two separate hand movements

b.       Repeating numbers as in ‘six sixes’ are usually indicated by emphasising the hand sign and waggling the whole fist repeatedly

c.        Twelve sixes would be stated as a ten sign flowing into a two sign as one movement, followed by a separate six sign

d.       To raise one time, lets say to thirteen sixes, simply tap your fist on your dice pot with thumb up

e.        To call ‘No Ones’ say ‘zhaI-ah’ (Upper case i) and indicate this using your fist with thumb extended in front of you, and move your arm to indicate this is behind your head – again one movement

And that’s all there is to it!