A funniest person. I just love him!

Here’s quick and short lesson:

母亲节快乐！

Detailed definition

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

1. 大吉利是 knock on wood (knock the wood). It actually means saying something not quite appropriate at that time so bad luck would come if what is being would come true.

2. 对牛弹琴 play the music to the cow, who cannot understand. Talk to the wrong person.

3. 送羊入虎口 send the sheep to the tiger mouth (feed the tiger with your sheep… to sacrifice, waste)

4. 讲就天下无敌， 做就无能为力 talk like a hero, act like a coward or useless person. Only lip service.

Just go to MDBG.net for the detailed pronunciation and word by word definitions

Here’s our Cantonese podcast Lesson ten at CantonesePod.com.

Did you try our “how to say” in Cantonese series? Let review two of the series:

• How to say “you are pretty” in Cantonese

• How to say “you are (so) handsome” in Cantonese?

nei5 hou3 leng3
你 好 靓 = you are (so) pretty.
you very pretty (lit.)

你 好 靓 仔
nei5 hou2 leng3 zai2 = you are so handsome
you very handsome boy (lit.)

This is our sentence pattern for today:
pronoun/noun + adjective
We call this a sentence with an adjectival predicate. Very useful and we use it a lot in Chinese including Mandarin.
e.g.

我 好 忙 （唔得闲）。 = I am very busy (very ‘not free’)
I(am) very busy. (lit.)
得闲 = free; not busy.
唔得闲 = busy.

佢 好 唔得闲。 = He/she is very busy.
He/she(is) very busy.(lit.)

我 男 朋友 好 粗 心。 = My boyfriend is very careless/thoughtless.
my male friend very rough heart (lit.)
粗心 = careless/thoughtless （ having a rough/careless heart/mind)

我嘅 女 朋友 好 细心。 = My girlfriend is very careful/considerate/attentive (She’s a careful person).
my female friend very tiny heart. (lit.)
细心 = careful; attentive.

佢嘅 前夫 很 有钱。 = Her ex-husband is very rich.
Her former husband very have money (lit.)
有钱 = having money; rich.

你 煮 嘅 餸 好 好 味。 = The dishes you cooked are very delicious.
you cook dish(es) very good taste.(lit.)
好 味 = delicious; same as 好吃 in Mandarin.

OK. Wish you a great weekend.
周 末 愉快！
week end happy (lit.)

我有好多嘢做，不过我有好少时间。
I have a lot of things to do, but I have quite little time.

佢有一个好靓嘅太太，而且太太好识煮餸。
He has a very pretty wife and his wife knows cooking very well.(is a good cook)

So much for today. (今日)系咁先。
Have a nice weekend. 周末愉快！

Hi, 大家好！
Welcome to CantonesePod.com! 欢迎大家来到粤语播客！
What! What did I say?
欢迎
glad meet ( glad to meet you = welcome)
大家
big family (= everyone)
来到
come to
粤语
Guangdong language (=Cantonese)
播 = broadcast
客 =guest
播客 = podcast ( derives from 博客 for blog and similar sound of podcast )

OK. Today’s sentence pattern:

How do (you/we) say/write … in Cantonese/English/French/Japanese?
粤语/英语/法语/日语 … 点讲/写？

点 = how
讲 = say/speak
写 = write

e.g.
A:粤语 “I love you” 点讲? （ How do you say “I love you?” )
B:我爱你

A:英文 嘅 丑 字 点写啊? ( How do you write the word “ugly/shame” in English?)
B: U-g-l-y
A: 英文 嘅 LOVE 点串啊? ( How do you spell “love” in English?)
B: L-O-V-E
串 = spell ( literately means string something together )
啊 = question indicator (put at the end of a sentence to change a statement into a question. )
OK, see you next week at CantonesePod.com

Cities and places:
Guangzhou(Canton),Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Taipei, Taiwan, Las Vegas, New York, Saigon, Sydney,
广州，上海，苏州，杭州，台北，台湾，拉斯维加斯，纽约，西贡，悉尼（雪梨)

Try to use what you have learned:
I want to go to Hong Kong.
I’ve been to Guangzhou.

Let me know what other places you want to say.

The language spoken by the people in Canton? Canton is now officially called Guangzhou 广州, which is the capital of Guangdong Province in Southern China.

It is generally agreed that Standard Cantonese is the dialect spoken natively in and around the cities of Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Macau in Southern China. As it is said in Wikipedia, “unlike Standard Mandarin, there is no official agency to regulate Standard Cantonese”. The translation of the word “Cantonese” into Chinese is not easy as there are so many different opinions. Since Canton is now called Guangzhou, Cantonese should be traditional: 廣州話 or 廣府話; simplified: 广州话 or 广府话; pinyin: Guǎngzhōu huà or Guángfǔ huà; Jyutping: Gwong2zau1 wa2 or Gwong2fu2 wa2. Guangzhou is the city’s name. Guangfu means the capital of Guangdong Province, also refering to the city.

Cantonese is just short form for Standard Cantonese. We also call it traditional: 廣東話; simplified: 广东话; pinyin: Guǎngdōng huà; Jyutping: Gwong2dong1 wa2 (meaning speech of Guangdong province) because its influential status in Guangdong province. In Guangdong province, there are also quite a few dialects which are very different from each other.

I hope I do not bore you to death… so I’d better stop here. For more information and discussion, please refer to the Wiki article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Cantonese

English: Where are you from?
Cantonese: nei5 hai2 bin1dou6 lai4
你 喺 边度 来
nei5: you
hai2 (Cant.) to be located at; here means from
bin1dou6: where
lai4: come

English: I’m from the US.
Cantonese: ngo5 hai2 mei5gwok3 lai4
我喺美国来。

English: I’m American Chinese.
Cantonese:ngo5 hai6 mei5zik6 waa4jan4
我系美籍华人。

English: Born in Hong Kong, grew up in the US.
Cantonese: hai2 hoeng1gong2 ceot1sai3 hai2 mei5gwok3 zoeng2daai6
喺香港出世，喺美国长大。

hoeng1gong2 香港：Hong Kong
mei5gwok3 美国: beautiful country = America
Please note that in the recording, “lazy” sound “gok” is used instead of “gwok” as in our daily life. We did this on purpose as you should also understand it when you hear it from a native Cantonese speaker.

English: I’m American
Cantonese:ngo5 hai6 mei5gwok3 jan4
我系美国人。

Extra in the 2nd mp3 file:
1）Please tell me where you are from.
请问你喺边度来。
2）I am from the US.
我喺美国来。
3）I’m from Canada.我喺加拿大来。
4) I’m from Japan.我喺日本来。
5) I’m from Korea.我喺韩国来。
6) I’m from South Korea.我喺南韩来。
7)I’m from UK (England).我喺英国。
I’m from Sweden. 我喺瑞典来。
9)I’m from the Netherlands.我系荷兰人。
10) I’m from Hong Kong.我系香港人。
11) I’m from Macau我系澳门人。
12) I’m from Vietnam。我系越南人 (Note: 1st one jyut6laam4jan4 uses “lazy” sound. 2nd one jyut6naam4jan4 is “correct” or official. We let you hear it because young people are using lazy sound everywhere.)
13)I’m Cantonese.我系广东人。
14)I’m from Brazil.我系巴西人。

Not: in the mp3:
Holland is a very beautiful country.
Formal Cantonese：荷兰是一个非常美丽的国家。

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)