Learn Cantonese Haih, m haih, and haih m haih

Hi there!
This is the "official" start of the "Let's Talk Cantonese" lessons -- the verb "to be" or "haih".
It's divided into two parts because my white board isn't big enough -- so the first part is the "lesson" and the second part (which starts at about 4:30) are some sentences to practice. (Maybe I should get a bigger whiteboard, but then I'd have to leave my "corner" lol!)
(And I had really thought I could get a few more videos done before the holiday weekend was over, but as usual, it took me awhile longer than I thought, so this will have to do for now. :)
I hope you find it useful. If you have any comments or questions, please leave them below, and as usual, please subscribe and like my videos! Thanks so much!!
Happy learning,
Sue Marguerite
PS. Follow me on IG and FB: @cantonesecorner
PPS. Learn more Cantonese with me and open new windows into Cantonese culture by taking my Traditional Characters in Cantonese Pronunciation courses over at www.cantolingo.com.
Learn traditional Standard Written Chinese characters, their Cantonese equivalent (if any), the radicals, proper stroke order, and much more! Classes are on-going and combine online self-study with Zoom sessions. This is a university-level course based on materials from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and is effective and fun!

[@jimmysaw1050]

Sue, you are a awesome teacher! God bless.

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thanks so much, Jimmy! I appreciate your taking the time to let me know and glad I can be of help. :)

[@howardtran5904]

Thank you, Teacher!

[@danieljames4050]

I have been spending a few years *trying* to learn and you have made some of the basics really click. You are an incredible teacher!!

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thank you so much! I'm glad I could help make the basics stick and hopefully more. Happy learning! :)

[@RosannaNavarro]

I appreciate how you put all those various meanings pertaining to one syllable- hai. Confusion for English speaking people is hearing the same syllable for 10+ applications! I had tutorials years ago... Memorization is the best way to stick to it. But you laid it out with so much common sense and ease! Thank you!

[@CantoneseCorner]

Hi again ... you're so welcome! I agree...especially if you're learning when not immersed in the environment (I'm not sure if you are...just making a general observation!). I think it's so interesting ... and I'm glad you find it useful!

[@thetranfamily3481]

I love your videos Sue. It's been helpful in my beginner journey. Thank you for your uploads and please continue producing wonderful lessons.

[@3066961]

You are right abt "o既" on expressing relationships that i don't realize for years ~

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thanks! :)

[@user-zw7ke4vi3k]

How to write or ding hai in Chinese characters

[@GoodEveningDota]

Amazing content Sue!

[@nepiaedward4254]

This is amazing content! , better explanatory than most Cantonese learning resources out there! , thank you very much : ).

[@CantoneseCorner]

You're so welcome! I'm glad you found it useful :)

[@4eyemonkey]

Excellent!! Thanks for sharing

[@CantoneseCorner]

You're welcome! I'm so glad you find it useful (at least I hope you do! :)

[@pudgepudge1548]

really clear, looking forward to the rest of your videos. keep up the good work :)

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thank you so much! I’ll keep on keeping on 💪💪😄

[@thepredator.3359]

Very very helpful

[@heidiw3615]

Your Cantonese is great!!!! Gotta respect that!!!

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thanks, Heidi! 💞

[@helena3990]

Your pronounce is really perfect,,,, Unbelievable leng loi,, Love you full because I can learn Cantonese from you,,, Deeply Respect ♥️👍👍

[@CantoneseCorner]

How did I miss your comment!!! Thank you - that makes me really happy to know! 🤗 Happy learning!! 💗

[@jesse958]

This video was SO helpful to me! I am watching all of your videos!

[@CantoneseCorner]

Hi! I’m so glad you find them useful! Thanks so much for leaving me a message ... I really appreciate it! Feel free to let me know if there’s ever anything you’d like me to do a video on 😊

[@rosevaldez9324]

Indeed..it helps me a lot in dealing my ward

[@gekkoe808]

This is great stuff, thanks!

[@CantoneseCorner]

You're welcome!! Thanks for the nice compliment ... I'm so glad you like it!

[@edwardh.8094]

After watching this learning Cantonese video, it proved a point that Cantonese is a very difficult dialect to speak perfectly. Sue speaks 95% Cantonese correctly. The 5% is the local intonation that maybe her Cantonese friends were try not to correct her out of politeness.

[@edwardh.8094]

Talking about difficulty in learning Cantonese, not just learn how to speak like the local Cantonese, the Cantonese written part is extremely impossible either. They said all written Chinese characters are the same. But it is not quite the same for Cantonese. In order for you to write Cantonese, not merely you have to speak perfect Cantonese, you also need to learn some Cantonese specific characters that do not exist in Mandarin speaking world.

[@limonmiha1813]

You are very nice teaching Cantonese.very good job

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thank you so much!! I appreciate your taking the time to comment :)

[@marcgonzalez2805]

Really good video! Very very useful

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thank you! Just seeing your comment now ... sorry I missed replying earlier!

[@LinhNguyen-ui2kz]

Good Teacher !!!

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thank you so much!! :)

[@amandylee2438]

Good teaching method.

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thanks, Amandy! :)

[@MrJjjjjjjacky]

Where are you learned that perfect Cantonese

[@CantoneseCorner]

Hong Kong! First in lessons, then just from using it and learning on my own :)

[@jesslynnatania3108]

TERIMA KASIH,SANGAT MEMBANTU SAYA DA;LAM BELAJAR BAHASA CANTON.

[@fabianchan7]

Direct translation: Thank you, it really helped me so much in learning Cantonese.

[@dawnlam3909]

you are really good at cantonese

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thank you so much, I try my best! Really appreciate your taking the time to comment :)

[@lorenzahimantog5010]

Good morning

[@vafon3453]

Your Cantonese and English both sounds ​really good

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your taking the time to let me know! I actually do voiceovers (in English) ... if you're in HK, dial 1817 and you can hear my voice on the HKJC hotline :D

[@RosannaNavarro]

Suggestion- can you have the same lesson for the syllable 'Lan' and syllable 'dung'? Looking forward to it!

[@CantoneseCorner]

Hi Rosanna! I have to say the "láahn" 懶 (lazy) and "laahn" 爛 (rotten) are two of the most confusing to learn without hearing them said (or seeing them written) properly, and then there are others, too. And there are 16 different characters listed for "dung" and "duhng" (with different accent marks) ... so yes, I'll do a video on them just as soon as I can! This reminds me of one of my earliest memories when I first moved to Hong Kong ... I was learning Cantonese and one of my friends said (in English) that he had "slept like a pig" -- I thought it was so funny! So that's how I first learned the character "lazy". I just found the whole saying in the canto-sheik dictionary: www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/31130/ LOL! :)

[@MrJjjjjjjacky]

Of course Sue Margaret is a nice Tutor

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thank you! ☺️

[@user-pf1zw5hb2m]

Hi Sue, i'd really appreciate it if you could repeat the whole paragraph in the end.

[@Kawaiimisan]

Have you heard the 'ge' in gnoh ge, neih ge (etc) pronounced more like a 'gor' sound? (not sure how to write it in Yale) I memorised these a while back and it always sounds like a 'gor' sound when I hear my partner speaking... Maybe I'm not hearing it right? 🤔🤔

[@CantoneseCorner]

Hi Imogen! You are hearing it right (of course, since I know your partner is a native speaker :-) So when I was just saying it to myself and asking my native-speaking HK Chinese friends, we were all saying "Ngoh "gor/go" pàhng yáuh"! So what's happening, it seems, is that the "go" is the same "go" as in "bīn go", which when used by itself is a measure word used in front of certain nouns to mean "one" or "a". So it's like saying "my one friend" instead of "my friend" which in English basically goes back to it being "MY" friend. One of my native HK Chinese friends actually said it's a personal preference and he thinks "go" sounds better than "ge" but then he said he wouldn't use either one and just leave it as "ngóh pàhng yáuh" (which is something I said in the video, too, because the "rule" in Cantonese is the simpler the better lol). I'd be so interested to hear what your partner has to say on the "ge" "go" matter, because I've asked three different native speaking, Hong Kong (Chinese) friends to explain it to me and I've gotten three completely different answers (Cantonese in a nutshell haha) It being a dialect really is a cool but frustrating thing when there isn't really a formal rule to point to because some of the words they're using don't technically exist in formal written Chinese. :-D Maybe some of the native Cantonese speakers whom I know watch my videos will want to join in the discussion?

[@AnticKev]

Hey there Sue! I am said partner, and I'm just gonna throw my little perspective into the mix haha So the word we're discussing is this one "個" When written, it's pronounced "go/gor" - however you want to spell it. I believe "ge" is a separate character completely, written like this "嘅". I'll ask my mother this when I have a chance, but I'm pretty sure you can use either. In the sense that it's more of an "accent" in the Cantonese language, whichever area you live in, you may be brought up to use one over the other. Due to the fact that I learnt how to speak Cantonese whilst writing, I use "gor", like in this example: bigspace.celerity.co.uk/cantonese/audio/example16.mp3 I'm not perfectly fluent in Cantonese, but I can hold a conversation haha Hope this helps!

[@Kawaiimisan]

Cantonese Corner - Hi Sue, thanks for getting back to me! Glad I'm not going crazy! Having learnt other logographic languages to a higher level I'm used to different 'counting' words and similar variations but as you said I find Cantonese is way less clean cut! One thing I think would be interesting to know is whether the different sub dialects of Cantonese affect how one family or an area speak 🤔🤔

[@CantoneseCorner]

Hi Antic Kev! Thanks for adding to the mix and for adding in the Chinese characters - they are exactly the ones I was talking about, too! :) After I typed in my first reply I heard from another friend who said just what you did about there being some instances where it makes a difference, but usually you can use either (or none haha). I'd say your suggestion that the area you live in or how you're brought up determines which one you use matches what one of my friends said about how he would "never" use "ge" (at least in the situations I gave him). He said it as if he were looking down his nose at the word -- like it was so beneath him to even say it haha The audio file was interesting! It sounded almost as if he were saying "seven" with an exaggerated "ch" sound, but maybe it was just the audio distortion (or maybe it's a regional "accent" :)? Looking forward to what your mom has to say about all of this .... I do know that there are differences in the Cantonese spoken in Guangzhou and here ... not hugely different, but they do say some things differently. I wonder if this "go" "ge" thing is one of them! Well, it's after midnight here so will be sleeping soon ... don't want to lose too much sleep over this! LOL :D

[@CantoneseCorner]

Hi again, Imogen! I have to tell you that my friends and I have all been enjoying discussing this tonight -- really making them think about things they never have before when it comes to their own language, so that's a good thing haha :) What other languages have you learned? I'm so in awe of people who can speak multiple languages!

[@jevaispartout1271]

I thought 你 is "Leih", not "Neih". However, this doesn't matter as tone is much important in Cantonese (or Chinese in general).

[@MrJjjjjjjacky]

Sue Marguerite

[@eamonmachelmutahawa7655]

Great lessons beautiful explanation but I got a problem with the spelling whats called pinyin is completely different from whats in most books nowadays and definitely confusing. for instance hai m hai you 've written haih m haih couple of time in previous videos, Im guessing the language has evolved,

[@CantoneseCorner]

Thank you so much for the compliment! You're right in a way because (sadly) the phonetic system I see most often now online and elsewhere is the one used by Hong Kong University and it's called Jyutping. I use what Chinese University uses and it's called the Yale System. Yale was around before Jyutping and is uses tonal marks and then the letter "h" to denote the low falling, low rising and flat out low tones. I just never got the hang of Jyutping and so I stick to Yale ... one of the things on my "to-do list" is to include a short explanation of the system in the description of all my videos ... I'll get around to it one day, I promise! In the meantime, check out the video I did on explaning it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mqHSl3mVbrOYebM I hope that helps! Happy learning! :)

[@eamonmachelmutahawa7655]

@@CantoneseCorner Awesome and thanks cuz it's very helpful to know the right spelling when typing on a computer or phone to get the right characters. I'll check the new video and thanks once more. Your videos are helpful. I'm one of those who believe that languages (spoken language) are better taught to foreigners by foreigners.

[@-wil2013]

You don't like it? - No, I don't like it. 你唔鍾意咩？ - 係, 我唔鍾意。 中文唔同答。

[@Ray89135]

Why is "haih" (meaning "yes") is the same in Japanese?

[@user-yz9dk2xm5r]

Japanese ancestors is Chinese 2400 years ago

[@user-yz9dk2xm5r]

Japanese language is very close in hokkianese , Cantonese

[@clemmie4]

The only cantonese that i know are the swear words 😂

[@user-yx8kj9cg2k]

個音標deih 個h 係米多咗？

[@chankelvin5423]

「係」字變化無窮，人有幾多感情，個字有幾多變化。

[@maxtsai4295]

OMG突然之間覺得我嘅廣東話比你仲差

[@CantoneseCorner]

I seriously doubt that, but thanks so much for the compliment! I appreciate it :)

[@MightyYoungSir]

shes lying at the beginning with that general "abscence of tenses easy talk". You have to signify the past present and future with words that deal with time ---> i.e yesterday, in a couple minutes a bunch of words that you have to learn. Through deeper studies chinese is a conscious challenge, to convey meanings in simple "at the moment" expressions. That is the mastery of chinese

[@CantoneseCorner]

It's interesting how Cantonese is a contextual language compared to a structural language, and I guess that is what I was trying to convey -- you don't need to learn tenses the same way you need to learn in English the simple past, present and future; continuous past, present and future; perfect past, present and future, and perfect continuous past, present and future with all of the endings and irregular forms. As you said, however, you do need to indicate the past, present and future with contextual words -- but this is so much easier than the task of learning all the tenses of a verb that I wouldn't say that I was "lying" ... maybe making a sweeping generalisation, but I stand by the fact that there are no tenses in Cantonese in the same way there are in other languages, only words that give context, which are so much easier to learn -- and it's one of the best things about Cantonese, in my book!

[@MightyYoungSir]

TELL THE TRUTH