Latest / Learn Cantonese with Fexingo / Cantonese Tastes: Sweet, Sour, Spicy
Transcript
- Lucas: Welcome back to Learn Cantonese with Fexingo, episode 51. I'm Lucas, and Luna is here too. Luna: Hey everyone! I'm so ready for today. What are we learning, Lucas? Lucas: Well, we've talked about food before — rice, noodles, fruits, vegetables. But today we're going to describe how food tastes. Luna: Ooh, like sweet, sour, spicy? I love that. Lucas: Exactly. Three very useful taste words. Let's start with sweet. Lucas: Sweet in Cantonese is 甜. Listen: 甜. Luna: 甜. Lucas: 甜. Great. Can you say it again? Luna: 甜. Lucas: Perfect. Now, if you want to say 'this is sweet', you say 呢個好甜. 呢個 means 'this', 好 means 'very', and 甜 is sweet. So 呢個好甜. Luna: 呢個好甜. Lucas: 呢個好甜. You've got it. So imagine you're eating a pineapple bun — 菠蘿包 — and you want to say it's sweet. Luna: 呢個菠蘿包好甜. Lucas: Ah, nice use of a word from earlier episodes! 菠蘿包 is pineapple bun. So you said 'this pineapple bun is very sweet'. Exactly. Luna: Sweet! Okay, what about sour? Lucas: Sour is 酸. Repeat after me: 酸. Luna: 酸. Lucas: Good. And to say 'this is sour', it's 呢個好酸. Luna: 呢個好酸. Lucas: Right. Like if you have a lemon — 檸檬 — you could say 呢個檸檬好酸. Luna: 呢個檸檬好酸. I can almost taste it! Lucas: And the last one: spicy. Spicy is 辣. Say it with me: 辣. Luna: 辣. Lucas: 辣. Now, 'this is spicy' is 呢個好辣. Luna: 呢個好辣. Lucas: Perfect. So if you're eating noodles with chili, you can say 呢個麵好辣. Luna: 呢個麵好辣. I love spicy food, so I would say that a lot. Lucas: Alright, let's practice all three. I'll say the taste in English, and you say it in Cantonese, okay? Luna: Okay, hit me. Lucas: Sweet. Luna: 甜. Lucas: Sour. Luna: 酸. Lucas: Spicy. Luna: 辣. Lucas: Excellent! Now let's do full sentences. This is sweet. Luna: 呢個好甜. Lucas: This is sour. Luna: 呢個好酸. Lucas: This is spicy. Luna: 呢個好辣. Lucas: Wow, you nailed it. Let's try a mini conversation. Imagine we're at a cha chaan teng, a Hong Kong-style café. I'm the server, you're the customer. I bring you a drink. Lucas: 呢杯檸茶好酸嗎? Luna: Hmm, let me think... 'Is this lemon tea sour?' I'd say... 係, 呢杯檸茶好酸. Lucas: Yes! You said 'Yes, this lemon tea is very sour'. Perfect. Then I might ask, 你鍾唔鍾意甜嘢? — Do you like sweet things? Luna: Oh, from episode 39! I can say 我鍾意甜嘢. Lucas: Exactly. So you'd say 'I like sweet things'. Great callback. Lucas: Let's do a quick review. We learned 甜, 酸, 辣. And the pattern 呢個好 + taste. Luna: Right. 呢個好甜, 呢個好酸, 呢個好辣. Lucas: You've got it. I'm so proud. Now before we go, let's do one more repetition. I'll say the taste, you say the Cantonese word. Sweet. Luna: 甜. Lucas: Sour. Luna: 酸. Lucas: Spicy. Luna: 辣. Lucas: Perfect. Thanks for studying with us today on Fexingo. Keep practicing these taste words — they'll come in handy at any meal. Luna: Yeah! Try describing your breakfast, lunch, or dinner in Cantonese. Until next time! Lucas: Bye bye, 拜拜.