Lesson 1: Intro in the Bar

The bar is Cecilie's favorite place to learn Cantonese. Truly practical.

Tones are indicated in Yale system, which has six tones. For example:
1: sē
2: sé
3: se
4: sèh
5: séh
6: seh

The lower tones 4 to 6 have an 'h' following the vowel. Note that 'h' IS NOT pronounced; it is only there to indicate the lower tones.

The negative prefix 'mh4' is in forth tone and is indicated by 'mh`', since there is no Unicode character (yet) for small letter m, accent grave.

我 唔 識 講 英 文。
Ngóh mh` sīk góng yīng màhn.
I don't speak English.

啤 酒
bē jáu
beer

一 杯 啤酒 唔該。
yāt buī bē jáu mh` gōi.
One glass of beer, please.

乜 嘢 啤酒 呀？
Māt yéh (m'yē) bē jáu a?
Which beer?

呀
á?
What?

生 力 呀 呀 唔該。
Sāng lihk a mh` gōi.
San Miguel, please.

嘉 士 伯。
Gāa sih baak
Carlsberg

喜 力
Héi lihk
Heiniken

幾 (多) 錢 呀？
Géi (dō) chin a?
How much money?

二 十 文。
yih sahp mān.
20 dollars.


好 平 呀.
Hóu peng a.
Very cheap.

___, 中文 點 講 呀？
＿＿， jūng màhn dím góng a?
How do you say ___ in Chinese?

(alternate question not in transcript)
呢 個 用 廣 東 話 點 講 呀？
Nī go yuhng gwóng dūng wá dím góng a?
How do you say this in Cantonese?

*checked version* 20090814