Lesson 8: “I’m going to …” in Cantonese
August 23rd, 2008
Hi, 大家好！
Today, we are going to learn how to say what you plan to do (are going to do).
今日句型 gam1yat3 geoi3jing3
Today’s sentence pattern:
I’m going to + verbs ( In English it really means “I plan to do something.” or “I will do something.”)
so the Cantonese for that is:
我打算+verb or
a future time phrase + 我（会）+ verb
我 ngo5 = I/me/my
打算 daa2syun3 = plan to
会 wui2 = will/able to （do something).
Please note that “Chinese verbs do not conjugate like the verbs of most Indo-European languages such as English or Spanish. In English, for example, the verb ‘to eat’ has many forms compared to its Chinese equivalent: ‘to eat’ (infinitive), ‘eat, eats’ (present), ‘ate’, (simple past), ‘eaten’ (past participle), ‘eating’ (present participle), etc. Chinese only has one basic form, used for every person and tense”( wikipedia )
e.g.
1) ngo5 daa2syun3 soeng5mong5 wan2 jat1 bou6 hou2ge3 daa2jan3gei1
我打算上网搵一部好嘅打印机。
I am going/plan to find/look for a good printer online.
打印机(機) daa2jan3gei1 = printer
多功能打印機 do1gung1nang4 daa2jan3gei1
多功能 do1gung1nang4 = multi function (similar to 3 or 4 in one or “all in one”)
一部 jat1 bou6 = one set/unit
2)gam1maan5 ngo5 wui2 soeng5cyun4 nei5di1 dak1ji3 soeng2 dou3 ngo5 ge3 mong5zaam6.
今晚我会上传你啲得意相到我嘅网站。 I am going to upload your cute photos to my web site.
今晚gam1maan5 = tonight
上传soeng5cyun4 = upload
你啲 nei5di1 = your
得意 dak1ji3 = cute / interesting
相 soeng2 = photos
到 dou3 = to
我嘅 ngo5 ge3 = my
网站 mong5zaam6 = web site
3)ting1jat3 ngo5 wui2 gaau3 ngo5 po4po4 dim2joeng6 faat3 din6jau4
听日我会教我婆婆点样发电邮。
Tomorrow I am going to teach my grandma (on my mother’s side) how to send email.
听日 ting1jat3 = tomorrow ; 教 gaau3 = teach/taught
点样 dim2joeng6 = how
发 faat3=send 电邮 din6jau4 = email
琴晚 kam4jat3 = last night
kam4jat3(琴晚) ngo5 gaau3 ngo5 po4po4 dim2joeng6 faat3 din6jau4
Last night, I taught my grandma how to send email.
(Specials thanks to Leslie Frank )
You may learn more by spending more time at XueZhongwen.net
