Latest / Learn Cantonese with Fexingo / Cantonese at the Bookstore - Buying Books
Transcript
- Lucas: Hey Luna, welcome back to Learn Cantonese with Fexingo. Episode 98 already. Luna: I can't believe it. Ninety-eight episodes. And I still feel like a total beginner sometimes. Lucas: That's the journey. Every episode builds on the last. Today I thought we'd do something for all the book lovers out there. Luna: Ooh, I love books. What are we learning? Lucas: We're going to a bookstore. Imagine you walk into a shop in Hong Kong and you want to buy a specific book. Luna: Right. Like 'I want to buy this book'. Lucas: Exactly. So the first phrase is very simple: 'this book'. In Cantonese, that's 呢本書. Listen: 呢本書. Luna: 呢本書. Lucas: Good. 呢本書 means 'this book'. Now if you want to say 'I want to buy this book', you say 我想買呢本書. Luna: 我想買呢本書. Lucas: Perfect. 我想買 means 'I want to buy'. So 我想買呢本書. Can you say it one more time? Luna: 我想買呢本書. Lucas: Great. Now let's say you're not sure if they have the book. You can ask 'Do you have this book?' In Cantonese: 你哋有冇呢本書？ Luna: 你哋有冇呢本書？ That's a mouthful. Lucas: It is. 你哋 means 'you all' or 'you' as in the shop. 有冇 means 'have or not have'. So 你哋有冇呢本書？ Luna: 你哋有冇呢本書？ Lucas: Exactly. And if they have it, they might say 有, we have it. If not, 冇. Luna: Good to know. So I can ask and then understand the answer. Lucas: Exactly. Now one more useful phrase: 'I'm looking for a book.' In Cantonese: 我想揾一本書. Luna: 我想揾一本書. Lucas: 揾 means 'look for'. So 我想揾一本書 is 'I want to look for a book'. You can use it when you don't know the exact title. Luna: That's really handy. I can imagine walking into a bookstore and saying that. Lucas: Let's do a little scene. I'm the shop assistant. You come in. Luna: Okay. Hello, 我想揾一本書. Lucas: 好的, 呢一本？ Luna: 係, 我想買呢本書. Lucas: 好, 我哋有. 呢度. Luna: Oh, they have it! Perfect. Lucas: So you just used three of our phrases. 我想揾一本書, 我想買呢本書, and you understood my question 呢一本？ Luna: I did. That feels great. Lucas: And you know, if Fexingo has been helping you make progress with Cantonese, whether it's at the bookstore or anywhere else, we really appreciate when listeners support the show. Luna: Yeah, it's what keeps us ad-free and able to keep making episodes like this. Lucas: If you'd like to help out, you can buy us a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, but it means a lot. Luna: Totally. And now back to the bookstore. Can we practice one more time? I want to get these phrases solid. Lucas: Of course. Let's go through them again. 呢本書. Luna: 呢本書. Lucas: 我想買呢本書. Luna: 我想買呢本書. Lucas: 你哋有冇呢本書？ Luna: 你哋有冇呢本書？ Lucas: 我想揾一本書. Luna: 我想揾一本書. Lucas: You've got it. Now you can walk into any bookstore in Hong Kong and start a conversation. Luna: I'm going to try that next time I'm in a Chinatown bookstore. Practice makes perfect. Lucas: That's the spirit. Keep practicing these phrases, and next time we'll learn something new. Until then, happy learning from Fexingo. Luna: Bye bye!