Cantonese Life 1 (Elementary Cantonese)

Cantonese Life 1 is designed for beginners in Cantonese. You will learn basic Cantonese for different contexts of your daily life. The book begins with an introduction to Cantonese pronunciation and Chinese characters. It then moves on to the following topics:

Introducing yourself
Hanging out with friends
Going to restaurants, markets and clothing shops
Asking for directions
Taking public transport

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Unit / Lesson	Communicative Functions	Language / Culture
Cantonese Pronunciation Guide		Pronunciation Cantonese sounds (initials, finals and tones) The Romanization system Jyutping
Chinese Character Guide		Characters Basic strokes Character components Radicals Structure of Chinese characters Punctuation Culture Written Cantonese
Unit 0 開始 hoi1 ci2 Getting Started	Classroom language Greetings Apologizing Thanking someone Drawing someone’s attention	Grammar Word order Word classes Vocabulary Numbers I (0-10; ordinal numbers) Pronunciation Pronunciation variations Culture Special meaning of numbers
Unit 1 認識你（一） jing6 sik1 nei5 (jat1) Getting to know you (1)
Lesson 1 你叫咩名呀？ nei5 giu3 me1 meng2 aa3? What is your name?	Saying someone’s name Identifying someone by name	Grammar Personal pronouns The verb 係 hai6 (‘to be’) Verb conjugation Introduction to sentence particles The sentence particle 呀 aa3 I (question) The sentence particle 呢 le1 (‘how about’) Vocabulary Personal names Pronunciation Applying rising intonation to questions Culture Common names in Hong Kong
Lesson 2 呢個人係邊個嚟㗎？ ni1 go3 jan4 hai6 bin1 go3 lai4 gaa3? Who is this person?	Identifying someone by relationship	Grammar Introduction to classifiers Indicating quantity 二 ji6 (‘two’) and 兩 loeng5 (‘two’) Possessive constructions I Demonstrative constructions I The sentence particle 嚟 lai4 (assertion) The sentence particle 嘅 ge3 (assertion) Comparison between 嚟 lai4 and 嘅 ge3 The question word 邊個 bin1 go3 (‘who’) I Vocabulary People I
Lesson 3 你平時鍾意做咩㗎？ nei5 ping4 si4 zung1 ji3 zou6 me1 gaa3? What do you usually like doing?	Talking about hobbies	Grammar Introduction to adverbs The adverb 都 dou1 I (‘too’ or ‘also’) The conjunctions 同 tung4 (‘and’) and 同埋 tung4 maai4 (‘and’) The sentence particle 啦 laa1 (listing) The question word 咩 me1 (‘what’) The sentence particle 呀 aa3 II (emphasis) Verb phrases in the subject or object Position Vocabulary Hobbies I
Lesson 4 你鍾唔鍾意行山㗎？ nei5 zung1 m4 zung1 ji3 haang4 saan1 gaa3? Do you like hiking?	Talking about likes and dislikes Talking about abilities	Grammar Types of verbs The adverb 唔 m4 (‘not’) Preference verbs and degree Words Yes-no questions: the X-not-X construction I The sentence particle 呀 aa3 III (softening the Tone) The modal verb 識 sik1 (‘to know how to’) The adverb 仲 / 重 zung6 I (‘in addition’) Vocabulary Hobbies II
Lessons 5 Unit Review (Available later)
Starting from Unit 2, the sections “Grammar and Vocabulary” and “Communication” of each lesson will be made available first. The other sections will be added later.
Unit 2 認識你（二） jing6 sik1 nei5 (ji6) Getting to know you (2)
Lesson 6 你做緊嘢定讀緊書㗎？ nei5 zou6 gan2 je5 ding6 duk6 gan2 syu1 gaa3? Are you working or studying?	Talking about work or study	Grammar Indefinite noun phrases I Introduction to aspect particles Separable verbs Verb-object compounds The aspect particle 緊 gan2 (progressive) The conjunction定 ding6 / 定係 ding6 hai6 (‘or’) The expression 咁 gam2 (‘then’) The adverb 仲 zung6 II (‘still’) Vocabulary Occupations Subjects
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This book is organized into different units. Each unit focuses on a specific theme and includes several short lessons on that theme.

This book will be available in two formats:

an online version that you can read directly from this website
a PDF version that you can print out or import into your note-taking app

The online version will be made available first, followed by the PDF version at a later stage.

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You are free to use this book to learn or teach Cantonese.

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Cantonese Life 1 (Elementary Cantonese)

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