100 More Useful Words = 200

 

Time; Cardinality & Relativity; The Elements; Colours; Gems, Jewellery & Metals etc

 

Time for 10

 

 

English

Cantonese

Comments

Char

101

Second

myAoh

Start with ‘myOh’ and add a slight ‘A’ sound

 

102

Minute

fun

 

 

103

Hour O’clock

dim

Precise time is said as ‘leurng dim jowng’ (2 o’clock)

‘leurng gor jowng’ means 2-hours

 

104

Hour of Time

jowng

 

 

105

Week

sin-kAy

Prefix number + gor; means which week ahead:

‘yut gor sin-kAy’ = 1 week or next week

Suffixed number means which day of the week

‘sin-kAy yut’ = Monday

 

106

Month

ye-ur

Can also mean Moon. A Chinese month is always lunar.

‘jyut’ version is Hong Kong language only

 

107

Year

lin

Properly ‘lien ‘ = 10% ‘e’ sound

Said as single numbers: 2008 = yee len len bak lin

 

108

Year’s Old

soy

sam sup sAi soyi = 34 years old {Means 33}

40% ‘i’

 

109

Time

dim

Means: ‘important space’. Similar to saying ‘How long’

 

110

What is the time?

gAy dim

Coll: gAy dim-ah?

 

 

Keyword:

 

dim

v      Hour o’clock

v      Important space (Time or measurement)

v      How long (Time or measurement)

v      General word for a specified measurement; length, weight, etc

v      gAi dim = What is the time?

v      zhao dim = hotel

v      gao dim = 9 o’clock

v      gaao dim = finish something (usually work)

Note 1:

v      A traditional Chinese clock is made up of only 12 hours, each of two modern hours of time

 

Note 2:

A persons age can be:

v      An age based upon dates from the English Gregorian calendar

o        Or is often given as from the Chinese lunar calendar = usually means a few years younger than real age

v      Usually given as their age at their next birthday!

v      If you need the exact age, ask for Date of Birth

 

 

Specific Days, Weeks and Months

 

111

Now

yee ga

 

 

112

Monday

sin-kAy yut

Days of the Week

 

 

Tuesday

sin-kAy yee

 

 

Wednesday

sin-kAy sam

 

 

Thursday

sin-kAy sAi

 

 

Friday

sin-kAy mmm

 

 

Saturday

sin-kAy lop

 

113

Sunday

lie bye

sin-kAy t’chyut is not often used

 

114

Day

hO or yut

Use hO as default, and especially for day of month:

‘yee sup sam hO’ = 23rd

115

Yesterday

kum-mon

 

 

116

Today

gum-mon

 

 

 

Tomorrow

ting yut

This is bad grammar meaning ‘Next tomorrow’, but it is easy to remember and it works very well! Therefore: ‘leurng kum-mon’ means 2-days ago. Simple!

 

117

The day after tomorrow

leurng ting yut

 

118

January

yut yeur

Months of the Year:

 

No ‘gor’

The number in front changes

And so on up to December

 

119

February

yee yeur

 

 

March

sam yeur

 

 

April

sAi yeur

 

 

May

mmm yeur

 

 

June

lop year

 

 

July

t’chyut yeur

 

 

August

bak yeur

 

 

September

gao yeur

 

 

October

sup yeur

 

 

November

sup yut yeur

 

 

December

sup yee yeur

 

120

Spring

chun

Seasons are not normally used in general Cantonese conversation – especially in tropical Guangdong Province - where it is usually very hot, and occasionally very cold for a couple of weeks per annum

 

121

Summer

ha

 

122

Autumn

chau

 

123

Winter

d-owng

 

124

Golden Week

wong gam zau gaa kei

National holiday for Communist rule. From 1st  October

 

125

Chinese New Year

nung lik san nin

Lunar date like Easter, around the start of February.

Often called Spring Festival. Chinese gift ‘Mooncakes’

 

126

“Happy new year”

gung hei fa choi

 

 

127

Lucky Money

lAi Cee

Chinese give red envelopes with a little money

 

128

May Holiday

gwok zhi lou dung zit

Also called Spring Festival, the first week of May

Also means May Day itself

 

129

Grave cleaning day

qing ming

Qing ming festival. To visit the grave(s) is ‘soeng fan’

 

130

Birthday

saang yut

Age has several different meanings as compared with the simple English version. See note below

生日

 

Happy Birthday!

saang yut faai lok

生日快樂

 

 

The Elements

 

131

Sun

joeng

Sun, Solar

132

Sky

tien hung

10% ‘e’.

天空

133

Stars

sing sing

‘sing’ means ‘star’. Usually plural usage = ‘sing sing’

134

Rain

lok yu-ee

Alt. Toisanwah: ‘lok soi’; alt. HK: ‘jyu’

135

Wind

fon(g)

40% ‘g’, nasal ‘n’. Typhoon is actually ‘dai fong’ or ‘big wind’. HK for ‘dai’ is ‘tai’, hence ‘taifun(g)’

136

Cloudy

mat wan

 

密雲

137

Fog

mou

fog; mist; vapour

138

Snow

syut

Usually: ‘syut soi’, or ‘ba xi soi’ (White rain)

139

Flood

soi zhi

Generalised: There are dozens of versions. This one means a great flood disaster in UK understanding

水災

140

Desert

bat mou zhi dei

barren land; desert

不毛之地

140a

Polluted

Wu waa yu-ee

filthy; dirty; impure; polluted

or

 

 

Cardinality and Relative Directions

 

141

North

bak

10% ‘k’. Mandarin ‘bei’

142

South

naam

Mandarin ‘nan’

143

East

doh’ung

Say ‘dong’ to begin with as a very complex sound.

10% ‘oh’ (Advanced pronunciation: low ‘d’,  short transfer sound, high ‘ung’ with semi nasal ‘n’). Not spoken as English ‘dung’, but vaguely similar.

Mandarin ‘dong’

144

West

sai

‘sigh’

西

 

Note: Very frequently used as Placenames

 

145

Up

sheurng hoi

There is no Chinese word that literally means ‘up’.

The default word is ‘sheurng’, HK ‘soeng’

In Cantonese ‘sheurng hoi’ also means ‘Shanghai’

146

Down

lok hoi

General meaning – there is no ‘Down’ word either!

147

Left

jor

‘jor’ as in Jordan. HK = ‘jo’

148

Right

yaow

HK = ‘jau’

149

Inside

fan lIe

(lIe: phonetic ‘L’, Caps ‘i’, phonetic ‘E’, or ‘Lee/Li surname’. HK = ‘noi’

150

Outside

chut hoi

Alt: ‘chut bin’. HK ‘ceot’ = ‘chut’

出便

151

Above

s’zi sheurng

 

152

Below

haa bin

Alt: ‘lok bin’

下便

153

On Top

sheurng gao

Lit. ‘Top Dog’. Use ‘Above’ to specify a place

上高

154

Underneath

zoi haa min

 

在下面

155

In front

cien

10% ‘e’

156

Beside

zoi ... zhi pong

zoi ... (Object) … zhi pong

在﹍之旁

157

Behind

hau

behind, come after

158

Near

gaan jyut

near something; close to something

近住

 

pong bong

near; beside; next to

 

bong pong

near; approaching

159

Far

jiu

far; distant; remote

160

Move

zhao-ah!

Let’s go, please move, go, you may now enter/exit

 

Note:

v      ‘sheurng’ and ‘lok’

o        Chinese websites: mean previous page and next page respectively

o        Also means: ‘Before’ and ‘After’

v      These are very basic Chinese characters that work with others to condition the exact meaning

 

 

Words for Colours

 

161

Red

hong

A colour is always followed by the word ‘sek’ = sounds very, very similar to ‘sic’

 

Cantonese will normally only use these basic colours in everyday speech. There are many more. To begin with, these six are all you should normally need to know.

162

Yellow

wong

163

Green

lop

164

Blue

lam

165

Black

hak

166

White

bak

167

Light

chin

 

 

168

Dark

sum

 

 

169

Gold

gum

 

 

170

Silver

nn-gum

 

 

171

Grey

foo-ee

As in English, many colours have specific characters:

Scarlet, crimson, vermilion etc + very different sounds

 

Turquoise is not listed anywhere – Here is China!

 

172

Brown

fee

 

173

Beige

mAi

 

174

Orange

chang

 

175

Purple

Gee

 

176

Pink

fun-hong

 

177

Shine

Giu

shine, sparkle, dazzle = a surface, appearance & person

 

178

Twinkle

sim Giu

sparkle; twinkle; glint = a property (Star, eye, object)

 

179

Bright

ming

 

 

180

Drab

fat mei

uninteresting; boring; dull; insipid, drab, tasteless

 

 

Keyword:

 

sek

v      To denote that one of the above is a colour, the word ‘sek’ is always added immediately afterwards

o        hong sek, wong sek, etc

v      Light or Dark specifiers should normally be added before the colour name

v      Red with Gold are traditionally thought to be the most auspicious of colours, as used for Weddings

 

 

Gemstones, Metal and Wood

 

181

Diamond

z’yun sek

Often said as ‘bak sek’

鑽石

182

Ruby

hong bo sek

 

紅寶石

183

Sapphire

laam bo sek

 

藍寶石

184

Jade

yuoc

Jade is the most precious thing to most Chinese

185

Ring

gaa zie

‘gi fan’ means wedding and wedding ring

戒子

186

Necklace

gung lin

 

頸鏈

187

Pendant

diu zoi

 

吊墜

188

Earrings

zi waan

 

耳環

189

Bracelet

sau aak

 

手鈪

190

Iron

tong dao

 

熨斗

191

Steel

gong gong

 

192

Aluminium

leoi

 

193

Copper

tung

We don’t know of any Chinese words or characters to differentiate these 3 – Perhaps you can help?

194

Brass

195

Bronze

196

Stone

sek

Stone, rock or mineral

197

Wood

muk

Tree or wood

198

Bamboo

juk

 

199

Plastic

GaaU

 

200

Tissue Paper

Gee gun

General term: Tissues, toilet paper = same thing

紙巾

 

 

In the next Chapter, we look at Food, Restaurants and Eating