Cantonese Learning Blog

Beautiful in Cantonese

There are at least two ways to say "beautiful" in Cantonese:

  1. 靚 ( colloquial;  means good-looking  as in 靓相 pretty photos; high quality or high class as in 靓车 - good cars such as Lamborghini  or Porsche ) 
  2. 美麗 (美丽)  (beautiful, not just pretty; formal;  sometimes shortened to  just 美.   so 美国 can mean beautiful country)
  3. 好好睇  (very good looking )

Examples:

1. You are so beautiful!   你好靓！

2. I don't need those beautiful lies!  我唔需要美丽嘅谎言。
Note: tell a lie = 讲大话 (colloquial.    lie = 大话  literately mean "big talk" ).    谎言 means "lie(s)" and it's very formal.
However, we do use 美丽的(or 嘅 )谎言 is a set phrase or idiomatic phrase  for "beautiful lies".

3. 你种嘅花好靓啊！  The flowers you are planting are very beautiful (pretty)!

4. The skirt you are wearing is pretty good looking.  妳着紧嘅条裙都几靓喎  nei5 zoek6 gan2 ge3 tiu4 kwan4 dou1 gei2 leng3 wo3

5. You look  beautiful with this pair of glasses.   你戴呢副眼镜好好睇喎。 nei5 daai3 ne1 fu3 ngaan5 geng3 hou2 hou2 tai2 wo3

6. Your eyes are beautiful.  你嘅眼睛好靓！

How to Say Please in Cantonese

There are two words that means "Please" in Cantonese:

  1. 請 （ 请 ）    (this may also mean ask or invite)
  2. 唔该    (this phrase can also mean "Thank you". Literately it means "not deserved" or "should not (bother you). "  )

We can use them interchangeably.   The first form is more formal.

Examples:

1. Please open your books:   請打開你嘅書。cing2 daa2 hoi1 nei5 ge3 syu1

2. Please say that again （once more ）:  唔该你讲多一次。 m4 goi1 nei5 gong2 do1 jat1 ci3

or we can also say  請你讲多一次。cing2nei5 gong2 do1 jat1 ci3

3. Could you say that again, please?:  唔该你可唔可以讲多一次?  m4 goi1 nei5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 gong2 do1 jat1 ci3

or we can say: 可唔可以請你讲多一次?     ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 cing2nei5gong2 do1 jat1 ci3

可以 = can ; could

可唔可以 = could or could not; can or cannot

Other Usage of 請

Happy Father’s Day in Cantonese

父亲节快乐 (Traditional: 父親節快樂) = Happy Father's Day ( you may click the Chinese characters to get the pronunciation and click the Play button to listen to the sound). This year it will be on 6/16/2013.

We can say 六月十六號是父親節 ( June 16th is Father's Day ).

On that day, you should call him and say "老豆你好！"
..你好！ means so and so, how are you?

老豆 or 老竇 is an informal way to call daddy.
The Cantonese word 爹地 is actually a borrowed word from English “Daddy"

We often call our elderly daddy 老爹 (Old Dad). Similar to Mandarin.

We should also say " 老竇我好掛住你啊 ！” ( = Daddy, how I miss you! ) if you call home from far away. Take good care of your father and send him more love if you still can. I cannot any more as he passed away many years ago. There's a Chinese saying from a famous peom: 子欲養而親不待 ( When the son wants to support the parents who have passed away. ) A pretty close translation of the sentences in that Chinese poem can be found at Dict.cn: 树欲静而风不止，子欲养而亲不待.

You may be interested in our other related posts:
1) Happy Father's Day Cantonese MP3.
2) Happy Father's Day in Cantonese Youtube Video.

Happy Father’s Day

I know that we already have a post on Father's Day:  http://cantonesePod.com/fathersday

Happy Father's Day in Cantonese (new mp3 )

You may also learn how to say it with Jyutping at http://go99.us/py/父亲节快乐

Learn How to Say "Have A Nice Weekend" in Japanese as well as Mandarin and Japanese

Happy Father's day in Cantonese [ 0.01 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1620)

Cantonese For Missionaries: Lesson One

With the help of ChineseBay.com's Cantonese Pronunciation Dictionary, we can start some easy lessons for missionary.

Lesson One:
1. 神是愛 （God is love).
2. 耶穌是我哋嘅救主 （Jesus is our savior).
3. 我愛耶穌 （ I love Jesus).
4. 我愛耶和華 （I love Jehovah).
5. 神愛世人 （God loves the world).

For pronunciation, you may click the above Chinese to get the Jyutping (Cantonese pronunciation) for those characters.
Here's an introduction of Jyutping Lessons that you may follow. (Master Jyutping, and your are free):

After you master the Jyutping you may use the Jyutping Dictionary to learn the Cantonese pronunciation of all the Chinese characters.

Cantonese for Missionaries and Cantonese for Pastors. It means as a missionary or pastor who meet Cantonese a lot, they need to learn this basic Cantonese.

Colloquial Cantonese(3)

Colloquial Cantonese Lesson Three

Let's learn how to say "To be or not to be."
係 hai6

☆係唔m4係(是不是) = is or not?
☆係咁gam2 (是这样)= is like this
☆係嘅ge3(是的) = It is.
☆係喇laa1(是了) = so it is
☆係嘞laak3(对了) = that is right.
☆係噃bo3(是的哦) = Oh, it is.
☆係吖aa1(是啊) = Yes,(I agree).
☆係呀aa1(是啊) = Yes, (I agree).
☆咪就係囉mai6zau6hai6 lo1 = That's right.(I agree to this obvious point.)
☆係啰(囉)lo1(就是嘛) = a tone-down version of 咪就係囉.
☆係啩gwaa3(可能是吧)= perhaps it is
☆係咪mai6(是不是)= 係唔m4係 is or not?
☆係咩me1(是吗)= is that so?

Please note that 咪 here is taking 6th tone instead of the 1st tone(mistake in the video):  mai6

CantonesePod.com & ChineseBay.com

The Cantonese phrases and expressions we teach here are so colloquial that the Chinese characters used do not make sense at all in Mandarin. If you find them difficult, you need to practice more and try to learn them again and again from your own conversations with Cantonese speakers or find them in the Cantonese movies or TV programs. Don't give up and keep learning and you will find more fun in learning Cantonese.

Colloquial Cantonese (2)

Colloquial Cantonese  Lesson Two
冇 mou5  ( do not have； there's none) = Mandarin 没,没有

This is a Cantonese word. We don't have it in Mandarin.
☆冇乜嘢 mou2 mat1 je5 (没什么)
= have nothing at all.It's nothing.(it's OK)
☆冇嘢(没什么)= nothing
☆冇你咁好氣（气）mou2 nei5 gam2 hou2 hei3(没有你那么耐心)
=have no patience like yours(don't want to talk to you anymore)

Diffference between Mandarin & Cantonese

There are lots of differences between Mandarin and Cantonese even though they share many Chinese characters and even sounds.  Mandarin speakers and Cantonese speakers cannot understand each other unless they learn the other language. Mandarin and Cantonese are two different languages, but Google is continuing its big mistakes by considering Cantonese as the same or nearly the same language as Mandarin and they would not create a Cantonese selection for their Google Translate.

This article is written in hope that Google would realize their mistake someday and add Cantonese to their Google Translate. Please pass this article to someone related in Google so they can start to understand.

The differences between Mandarin & Cantonese
Althought Mandarin and Cantonese may share many Chinese characters, we can find
the following major differences between these two languages:

1.  Very different pronunciation.
e.g. 你好（hello)
Mandarin：ní hǎo Cantonese: nei5 hou2
e.g.   火車(train)
Mandarin: huo3 che1 Cantonese: fo2 ce1
2. Mandarin 4 tones vs Cantonese 6 tones
e.g.
Mandarin 師時史是 tāngshī shí shĭ shì
Cantonese 師史試時市是 si1 si2 si3 si4 si5 si6
Mandarin 湯糖躺燙 tāng táng tăng tàng
Cantonese 湯躺燙糖 tong1 tong2 tong3 tong4
3. different characters or words are used
e.g.  Engligh: I like him
Mandarin  我喜歡他
Cantonese 我中意佢
4. different word order
e.g.  Engligh: I need to go first.
Mandarin    我要先走了。
Cantonese  我要走先了。

How For Permission to Marry His Daughter in Cantonese

This is a request from a CantonesePod.com and ChineseBay.com visitor.

The two sentences are:

I       love         and         respect         your daughter very much.
ngo5hou2ngoi3     tung4maai4     hou2zyun1ging3 nei5ge3 neoi5
我  好爱        同埋        好尊敬        你嘅女。

I      humbly             request your permission to         marry her.
ngo5    him1bei1gam2    cing2kau4 nei5 wan5heoi2    ngo5 tung4keoi5 git3fan1
我        谦卑咁          请求        你允许    我                    同佢结婚。