Latest / Learn Cantonese with Fexingo / Cantonese Adjectives: Big and Small
Transcript
- Lucas: Welcome back, everyone, to Learn Cantonese with Fexingo. I'm Lucas. Luna: And I'm Luna. Episode 137! Can you believe it? Lucas: I know, right? We've come a long way. Last time we talked about hot and cold. Remember, 好熱 and 好凍? Luna: Yeah! 好熱 for hot, 好凍 for cold. I used 好熱 today actually, it's so warm out. Lucas: It is. So today, let's add two more super useful adjectives: big and small. In Cantonese, big is 大. Can you try that, Luna? Luna: 大. Lucas: Perfect. And small is 細. Try that. Luna: 細. Lucas: Good. Now, to say 'very big', just put 好 in front: 好大. You already know 好 means 'very' from 好熱. So 好大 is 'very big'. Say it? Luna: 好大. Lucas: And 'very small' is 好細. Try it. Luna: 好細. Lucas: Awesome. Now let's put them in sentences. 'This is very big' is 呢個好大. Luna? Luna: 呢個好大. Lucas: And 'this is very small' is 呢個好細. Luna: 呢個好細. Lucas: You're a natural. Let's practice with some things around us. Imagine a big box. You'd say 呢個盒好大. 盒 means 'box'. Luna: 呢個盒好大. Lucas: Exactly. Now imagine a tiny phone. 呢個電話好細. 電話 is 'phone'. Luna: 呢個電話好細. Lucas: Perfect. Now let's do a quick exchange. I'll point to something and you describe it. Ready? Luna: Ready. Lucas: Points to an imaginary elephant. This is an elephant, 大象. What would you say? Luna: 呢個大? Or wait, 呢個好大. Lucas: Yes! 呢個好大. But for elephant, we'd say 呢隻象好大. 隻 is a measure word for animals. Luna: 呢隻象好大. Got it. Lucas: Now a tiny mouse, 老鼠. Luna: 呢隻老鼠好細. Lucas: Nailed it. You're picking this up fast. Luna: Thanks! These are handy. I can already think of things I'd describe as 好大 or 好細. Lucas: Right? And if Fexingo has been helping you make progress with Cantonese, that's exactly what we hope for. The show stays ad-free thanks to listener support. If today was useful, you can buy me a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it really helps keep the episodes coming. Now, back to practice. Can we do a little role-play? Lucas: Sure. Let's say you're at a market and you see a big watermelon, 西瓜. Luna: 呢個西瓜好大! Lucas: And a small strawberry, 士多啤梨. Luna: 呢個士多啤梨好細. Lucas: Perfect. Now let's switch. I'll be the seller and you're the customer. You see a big bag of rice. Luna: 呢包米好大. Lucas: And a small bag of tea. Luna: 呢包茶好細. Lucas: Excellent. You're using 包 perfectly, that's the measure word for bags. Luna: So 大 and 細 can describe anything, really. Lucas: Exactly. You can say 我隻狗好大, 'my dog is very big', or 我隻貓好細, 'my cat is very small'. Just remember the measure word for pets is 隻. Luna: 我隻狗好大, 我隻貓好細. Love it. Lucas: Let's do a quick recap. We learned 大 for big, 細 for small, 好大 for very big, 好細 for very small, and 呢個好大 and 呢個好細 for 'this is very big/small'. Say them all one more time? Luna: 大, 細, 好大, 好細, 呢個好大, 呢個好細. Lucas: Flawless. That's your new toolbox for describing size. Practice by looking around your room and saying 好大 or 好細 for things you see. Luna: I'll do that. Thanks, Lucas. And thanks to all listeners for joining us today. Keep practicing and we'll see you next time on Learn Cantonese with Fexingo. Lucas: Bye for now!