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

Introducing yourself

Text

nei5hou2ngo5giu3...
ngo5hai6lai4ge3
ngo5dzung1ji3

[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”( (ngo5) ), and also “you”( (nei5) ), and (keoi5) in Cantonese. Let’s take a closer look at “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)
(man6) 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。
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) / 係學生。
    他/她是学生。
    He/She is a student.

  • 我唔识佢 (ngo5 m4 sik1 keoi5) / 我唔識
    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

粤语 Cantonese 拼音 普通话 Mandarin English
你好 nei5 hou2 你好 hello
ngo5 I/me
钟意 dzung1 ji3 喜欢 like
keoi5 他/她/它 he/him/she/her/it
系(係) hai6 be
ge3 (of)
游水 jau4 seoi2 游泳 swim
mou5 没有 not have
gam2 这样/如此 like this
点解 dim2 gaai2 为什么 why