Basic Conversations

Basic Conversations 1-16

1	Q: Is it ?	係	唔	係	呀
		hai6	m4	hai6	aa3
2	A: Yes.	係
		hai6
3	A: No.	唔	係
		m4	hai6
4	Q: Is it correct ?	啱	唔	啱	呀
		aam1	m4	aam1	aa3
5	A: It is correct.	啱
		aam1
6	A: It is incorrect.	唔	啱
		m4	aam1
7	OK	好	呀
		hou2	aa3
8	No problem	冇	問	題
		mou5	man6	tai4
9	Excuse me	唔	該	借	借
		m4	goi1	ze3	ze3
10	Please	唔	該
		m4	goi1
11	Thank you	多	謝	(for a gift)
		do1	ze6
12		唔	該	(for a service)
		m4	goi1
13	You are welcome	唔	使	客	氣
		m4	sai2	haak3	hei3
14		唔	使	唔	該
		m4	sai2	m4	goi1
15	Sorry	對	唔	住
		deoi3	m4	zyu6
16		唔	好	意	思
		m4	hou2	ji3	si3

Attention! There are two different words which mean “thank you” in Cantonese and they are used in totally different situations. 多謝do1ze6 is used when someone offers you a gift while 唔該m4goi1 is used when someone offers you a service or help. If you are not sure which one to use in particular circumstances, simply say “thank you” since it is also common in Cantonese conversation.

Basic Conversations 17-31

Wishes

Congratulations!	恭 gung1	喜 hei2
Happy Birthday!	生 saang1	日 jat6	快 faai3	樂 lok6
Merry Christmas!	聖 sing3	誕 daan3	快 faai3	樂 lok6
Happy New Year!	新 san1	年 nin4	快 faai3	樂 lok6

Greetings and Introduction

Hong Kong people code-mix a lot. By the term “code-mixing”, it means people use more than one language within one sentence during their conversation. People often replace Cantonese words or phrases by the corresponding English ones when they talk. So, don’t be surprised if you hear people speaking English when they greet!

Greetings

In fact, we seldom say “hello” or “hi” in Cantonese, we simply use the English correspondent to express the same meaning. 

Introduction

You need to take a look at the Cantonese number system if you want to say how old you areXD

Numbers in Cantonese

Here are the counting of Cantonese numbers from 0 to 100. We would not include too many since it is difficult to learn them at once. Therefore, bit by bit, try to figure out how the Cantonese numbers are constituted.

0	零	ling4
1	一	jat1
2	二	ji6
3	三	saam1
4	四	sei3
5	五	ng5/m5
Nowadays, the strong nasal sound “ng” are widely displaced by “m”.
6	六	luk6
7	七	cat1
8	八	baat3
9	九	gau2
10	十	sap6
From 11-19, simply add 1-9 after 十sap6, the principle is the same for 20, 30, 40 etc.
11	十一	sap6jat1
12	十二	sap6ji6
13	十三	sap6saam1
14	十四	sap6sei3
15	十五	sap6m5
16	十六	sap6luk6
17	十七	sap6cat1
18	十八	sap6baat3
19	十九	sap6gau2
20	二十	ji6sap6
By 二十ji6sap6, it means ‘two ten’. Therefore, 30 will be spoken as ‘three ten’ and so forth.
30	三十	saam1sap6
40	四十	sei3sap6
50	五十	m5sap6
60	六十	luk6sap6
70	七十	cat1sap6
80	八十	baat3sap6
90	九十	gau2sap6
100	一百	jat1baak3

Too difficult and too boring looking at tables and words??? Click and hear them!
0-10
11-20
30-100
Ready to count from 0 to 100 in Cantonese?? Let’s go!!!
0-100