In lesson 0, we learned how to introduce oneself to others, and we also touched upon numbers and the six tones.

Introducing yourself

Text

[Mandarin]

你好，我叫…
我来自…
我喜欢…

[English]

Hi! My name is…
I’m from …
I like…

We learned how to say “I/me”(我 (ngo5) ), and also “you”(你 (nei5) ), and 佢 (keoi5) in Cantonese. Let’s take a closer look at “佢”.

佢

A nice thing about “佢” is that it is the word for all “he”, “she”, “it”, “him” and “her”, so you don’t need to scratch your head for a second and pick the right word to use.

There’s a nice poem 观书有感 by 朱熹, where we can see the word “佢”.

观书有感
半亩方塘一鉴开 (bun3 mau5 fong1 tong4 jat1 gaam3 hoi1) ,
天光云影共徘徊 (tin1 gwong1 wan4 jing2 gung6 pui4 wui4) 。
问 (man6) 渠 那得清如许 (naa5 dak1 cing1 jyu4 heoi2) ?
为有源头活水来 (wai4 jau5 jyun4 tau4 wut6 seoi2 loi4) 。

//

半畝方塘一鑑開，
天光雲影共徘徊。
問渠那得清如許，
為有源頭活水來。

Here, “佢” is written as “渠”, and it literally means “it”.

Some more examples:

• 佢系学生 (keoi5 hai6 hok6 saang1) / 佢係學生。
  他/她是学生。
  He/She is a student.

• 我唔识佢 (ngo5 m4 sik1 keoi5) / 我唔識佢。
  我不认识他/她。
  I don’t know him/her.

• 佢 哋 (keoi5 dei6)

  他/她/它 们
  they/them

• 佢 嘅 (keoi5 ge3)

  他/她/它 的
  his/her/its

Asking questions in class

1. 有冇问题 (jau5 mou5 man6 tai4) ？
   有没有问题?
   Any questions?

2. …系咩 (hai6 me1) ？
   …是什么？
   What is … ?

3. 点解 (dim2 gaai2) … ？
   为什么… ？
   Why is … ?

e.g.

– 有冇问题？
– 有。点解个“冇”字系噉写？
– 因为“冇”即系“没有”，所以就写成“有”字少两横。

The six tones

The phrase “番faan1 茄ke2 酱zoeng3 牛ngau4 腩naam5 面min6” is a good tool for remembering the six tones.

Words