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Archive for the ‘Cantonese how to’ Category

Happy Mother’s Day in Cantonese

Here’s quick and short lesson:

母亲节快乐!

 
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Detailed definition

Want to know how to say “Happy Mother’s Day” in Mandarin Chinese? Click Here.

It should be easier to remember the names for the days of the week in Cantonese if you’ve already know how to count from 1 to 7:

 
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sing1kei4yat1
星期一 星期二 星期三 星期四 星期五 星期六 星期日
sing1 = star/planet
kei4 = period
jat1 = one

Another way to say the days of the week is

礼拜一 礼拜二 礼拜三 礼拜四 礼拜五 礼拜六 礼拜(日)
lai5bai3 (礼拜 ) means worship so we just use lai5bai3 for Sunday.
And Monday is the first day after Sunday (lai5bai3)

How can a man say “will you marry me?” in Cantonese

nei5 jyun6ji3 gaa3 bei2 ngo5 maa3
你愿意嫁畀我吗?
nei5 = you
jyun6ji3 = be willing to
gaa3 bei2 = marry to (a man)
ngo5 = me/I/my

So “ngo5 jyun6ji3 gaa3 bei2 nei5″
= (the girl said:) I am willing to marry you.

Some still asked me how to say “how are you?” in Cantonese:
Now that you know how to pronounce “nei5″ “hou2″ “maa3″, you already know how to say it
“nei5 hou2 maa3 你好吗?” = How are you?

How to say “will you marry me” by a girl to man? Let’s learn it next time.

 
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So how to say I miss you in Cantonese?

Here we go:

 
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ngo5 hou2 gwaa3zyu6 nei5
挂住 = I miss you very much
hou2 = very, good. Used here for stree.
gwaa3zyu6 = miss (someone)

Can’t find what you want to say? Bookmark us and come back here in a couple of days and we may have it for you. Or you can just contact us to ask for it.

ngo5 ge3 gwong2 dung1 waa2 m4 hou2
我嘅广东话唔好。 = My Cantonese is not good.
(我嘅廣東話唔好。)

ngo5 = my
ge3 = of; someone’s
ngo5 ge3 = my/mine
nei5ge3 = your/yours
gwong2dung1waa2 = Cantonese; the dialect of Guangdong province.
m4 = not
hou2 = good

我嘅广东话唔系好好。 = My Cantonese is not very good.
(Note: that in the above link there is a mistake for the word 广, which should be pronounced gwong2 instead of jim)
m4 hai6 = is not (be not)
hou2 hou2 = very good ( the first hou2 is an adverb, meaning very. The 2nd means good.)

Have a nice weekend.

 
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In Cantonese, how do you say “you are (so) handsome”?

 
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nei5 hou2 leng3 zai2 = you are so handsome
leng3 actually means “good-looking”
zai2 = boy

How do you say “you are pretty”?

 
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nei5 leng3

but we usually say it with the “hou3 (very)”:

nei5 hou3 leng3
= you are (so) pretty.
you very pretty

How do you say “you are (so) handsome”? Check for our next article.

Let’s talk about the 2nd way to say “sorry”:

 
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2. m4 hou2 ji3 si3

not good meaningintension) = feeling embarrassed
Let’s try your listening in this Youtube video

Pay attention from 0:43 of this 10 min video.

Related: How to say “sorry” in Cantonese(1)

There are two ways to say “Sorry” in Cantonese, at least:

 
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1. deoi3 m4 zyu6
对唔住 = Sorry (deoi3 = face, m4 = not, zyu6 = hold/up … I cannot face you or hold my head up to you… because I feel sorry..)

2. We will talk about the 2nd way in our next post. (《== click here )

How to say “I like it” (before you really fall in love with it :-) ?

ngo5 = I, me
zung1 = center, central, in the middle of
ji3 = thought, idea

 
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ngo5 zung1 ji3 = I like (it/you/him …)

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