|
Cantonese phrases
you will hear people say to you:
Yau mo gao chor
- Are you for real? -OR- Can't believe him/her/you!
When you are running for a bus and knock someone's head with your
40 pound backpack, you will hear that from your victim!
Chee sin
- crazy!
M T Arlo
- MTR (the subway)
K C Arlo
- KCR (the train
that goes north into the New Territories)
Cantonese phrases
you can say to people:
Mmm Goy
- Yap, you have to pronounce the "Mmm"! It means "no".
The two sounds put together means "thank you". Literally
you are saying to people "you shouldn't do that for me" - a courteous
phrase. But you say this only when someone does something for
you, or in asking someone to do something for you. To thank someone
for giving you something, for instance, a gift, you say "dor
je", which is explained next.
Dor
je - this means "thanks". Literally it means
"many thanks". But you only say this when thanking someone for
giving you a gift, not for doing something for you.
Ho
ho sigg - this means "it tastes good" or "they
taste good". Literally it means "good good eat". But then of course
with this phrase, you can easily get the tones wrong and it becomes
"like (fond of) women very much" - with negative connotations
- since Cantonese is a tonal language!
Chee
Saw - this may prove to be the most useful
Cantonese phrase you can learn: bathroom!
|
