Bite 6 - Describing Something

2020-11-12 Update: I changed this bite to be more specific - to expand on simple statements in Cantonese. The change included deleting 2 sentences because they did not stick to the topic.

We now continue from Bite 5 - To Be. We introduced “係”. It only says “Someone / Something is [noun]” though. What if we want to describe something? Here we will see!

I am __ year old

我    一    歲
ngo5 jat1 seoi3
I   one  year old

I am one year old.

What is going on here? Where’s the 係? No. We add a description behind the subject(s) without any words in between. Uncomfortable? No worry. More to follow :) But first…

Show the world a one year old can speak perfect Cantonese:

Slow one year old:

2020-11-12 Update: We completely rewrote the 2 examples below for consistency’s sake. No worries! I will add them back in later bites :)

When you meet a gifted child

佢    好    叻  呀
keoi5 hou2 lek1 aa
She  very  smart (interjection)  

She is very smart!

…tell someone her kid is smart:

Repeat the point so she hear:

At the park

過    山   車   好   刺  激  呀！
gwo3 saan1 ce1 hou2 ci3 gik1 aa
Rollercoaster   so  exciting (interj.)

…after a ride:

perhaps you shouted character by character to vent your excitement:

Note: We didn’t put the tone in 呀 because we can improvise depending on how we feel. More on that later.

Exercise

2020-11-12 Update: we didn’t have this here. Yes! New thing. Enjoy :)

Age

Now let’s try saying “She is 2 years old”.

FYR:

兩      歲
loeng5 seoi3

2 years old.

佢     兩     歲
keoi5 leong5 seoi3

Tell your friend you saw a cute kid

得    意
dak1 ji3

cute

Now say “she’s cute!”

佢     好   得   意  呀
keoi5 hou2 dak1 yi3 aa

She is cute!