Daai Seng Aai: Exercise Colloquial Chinese

粵 語 練 習

DAAI SENG AAI Exercise Colloquial Cantonese Jasmine Hui Tin-Wai

DAAI SENG AAI Exercise Colloquial Cantonese

哈佬! 喵!

靚女

喵喵

哈佬 haa� lou�! 靚女 leng� neoi� and 喵喵 miu� miu� will join you through this workbook. Have fun practicing writing and reading Cantonese!

CONTENTS CHARACTER STROKES

�

NUMBERS ZERO TO TEN

�

大聲哎

�

食咗飯未呀

�

矇查查

��

REFERENCES & RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

��

CHARACTER STROKES Understanding the strokes that make up Chinese characters helps with legibility. Here are some common strokes.

Stroke

Stroke Name

點 dim�, “dot stroke” 橫 waang�, “horizontal stroke” 竪 syu�, “vertical stroke” 鈎 ngau�, “hook stroke” 提 tai�, “rising stroke” 撇 pit�, “left falling stroke” 捺 naat�, “right falling stroke”

�

Follow the arrows and practice writing the following strokes.

Don't worry if your writing doesn't look exactly like the example!

大聲哎

�

NUMBERS ZERO TO TEN �

零

ling�

�

一 二 三 四 五 六

jat�

七 八 九 十

cat�

� � � � � � � � ��

ji� saam� sei� ng� luk�

baat� gau� sap�

Not only is it useful to know the numbers for counting, they help with understanding Cantonese number slang.

For example, ���� or 五三五四 ng� saam� ng� sei� sounds like 唔生唔死 m� saang� m� sei� which means “not alive, not dead.”

�

大聲哎

�

三

�

大聲哎

�

大聲哎 “To shout at the top of your lungs.”

大 聲

daai�,“Big”

哎

aai�,“Interjection of surprise”

seng�,“Sound / Voice”

Feel free to be loud and proud about writing and speaking the Cantonese language.

�

大聲哎

�

食咗飯未呀 “Have you eaten yet?”

食

sik�,“Eat / Food”

咗

zo�, Particle marking perfective

飯 未 呀

aspect or continuous state faan�,“Rice / Food” mei�,“Not yet” aa�, Final particle

“Have you eaten yet?”is an informal greeting that is similar to asking “How are you?”

�

大聲哎

��

��

矇查查 “Muddle-headed / Ignorant / Confused / Clueless”

矇 查

mung�,“Blind / Ignorant” caa�,“Check / Inspect / Consult”

You may be feeling a bit mung� caa� caa� from reading the textbook!

大聲哎

��

��

Good job! Thanks for making it this far.

靚女 leng� neoi� and 喵喵 miu� miu� are proud of you. Continue practicing Cantonese and have fun reading and speaking it!

大聲哎

��

REFERENCES Most of the information in this book is drawn from various online and print resources. Scan the QR code to a webpage with links to every resource referenced for each topic in this book!

��

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES For more Cantonese learning resources, scan the QR for another webpage of additional links .

大聲哎

��

daai�

seng�

aai�

Cover and book design by Jasmine Hui Tin-Wai / HuiTWai.carrd.co Daai Seng Aai: Exercise Colloquial Cantonese may be distributed online and printed but may not be printed and sold for profit under any circumstances.

Daai Seng Aai: Exercise Colloquial Cantonese was created in Seattle, WA, USA using Affinity Publisher and Affinity Designer.

Typefaces used in this book are Noto Sans Hong Kong, designed by Google, DFKai-SB, and Rubik, designed by Philipp Hubert and Sebastian Fischer.

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