The 6th lesson teaches counting in cardinal and ordinal numbers in Cantonese. I also included a vocabulary list about school and finally common daily phrases. I will try to give examples using both vocabulary and grammar. That way it will be easy for you to see the words when they are separate and when they are in a sentence. Going through the whole page should take about 30 min. Make sure to read the pronunciation and hear the audio as well. If you have any question about this course, please email me directly at Cantonese Classes.
Numbers
Knowing how to count in Cantonese is essential and should be one of first things to learn. By simply knowing numbers from 1 to 9 you could express large numbers in a simplified way. Cardinal numbers are for counting such as "1, 2, 3 ...". Ordinal numbers represent order or rank such as "1st, 2nd, 3rd ...".
Below is a list of the first 20 cardinal and ordinal numbers that you might come across or use very often. The table contains 3 columns (English, Cantonese, and Audio). Make sure you repeat each word after hearing it by either clicking on the audio button or by reading the pronunciation. That should help with memorization as well as improving your pronunciation.
Numbers in Cantonese
Numbers
Cantonese
Audio
One
一 jat1
First
第一 dai6 jat1
Two
二 ji6
Second
秒 miu5
Three
三 saam1
Third
第三 dai6 saam1
Four
四 sei3
Fourth
第四 dai6 sei3
Five
五 ng5
Fifth
第五 dai6 ng5
Six
六 luk6
Sixth
第六 dai6 luk6
Seven
七 cat1
Seventh
第七 dai6 cat1
Eight
八 baat3
Eighth
第八 dai6 baat3
Nine
九 gau2
Ninth
第九 dai6 gau2
Ten
十 sap6
Tenth
第十 dai6 sap6
Eleven
十一 sap6 jat1
Eleventh
第十一 dai6 sap6 jat1
Twelve
十二 sap6 ji6
Twelfth
第十二 dai6 sap6 ji6
Thirteen
十三 sap6 saam1
Thirteenth
第十三 dai6 sap6 saam1
Fourteen
十四 sap6 sei3
Fourteenth
第十四 dai6 sap6 sei3
Fifteen
十五 sap6 ng5
Fifteenth
第十五 dai6 sap6 ng5
Sixteen
十六 sap6 luk6
Sixteenth
第十六 dai6 sap6 luk6
Seventeen
十七 sap6 cat1
Seventeenth
第十七 dai6 sap6 cat1
Eighteen
十八 sap6 baat3
Eighteenth
第十八 dai6 sap6 baat3
Nineteen
十九 sap6 gau2
Nineteenth
第十九 dai6 sap6 gau2
Twenty
二十 ji6 sap6
Twentieth
第二十 dai6 ji6 sap6
Thirty three (31)
三十三 saam1 sap6 saam1
One hundred (100)
一百 jat1 baak3
Three hundred and sixty (360)
三百六十 saam1 baak3 luk6 sap6
One thousand (1000)
一千 jat1 cin1
Two thousand and fourteen (2014)
二千零一十四 ji6 cin1 ling4 jat1 sap6 sei3
One million
一百萬 jat1 baak3 maan6
Once
一次 jat1 ci3
Twice
兩次 loeng5 ci3
Now we will try to implement some of the numbers above into full Cantonese sentences. That way you will be able to use the word not only by itself but embedded in a structure.
If you have any questions, please contact me using the Cantonese contact form on the header above.
Vocabulary List about School
Below is a list of 26 words related to school and classrooms. If you can memorize them by heart, you will be able communicate to a teacher/students many objects in your class.
School Words in Cantonese
School
Cantonese
Audio
Answer
答案 daap3 ngon3
Book
書 syu1
Books
書/好多書 syu1 / hou2 do1 syu1
Chair
凳 dang3
Desk
書枱 syu1 toi4
Dictionary
字典 zi6 din2
Laptop
語言 jyu5 jin4
Library
圖書館 tou4 syu1 gun2
Notebook (paper notebook)
筆記簿 bat1 gei3 bou6
Page
頁 jip6
Paper
紙 zi2
Pen
筆 bat1
Pencil
鉛筆 jyun4 bat1
Question
問題 man6 tai4
School
學校 hok6 haau6
Student
學生 hok6 saang1
Teacher
老師 lou5 si1
University
大學 daai6 hok6
Daily Conversation in Cantonese
Finally, a couple bonus sentences that you might find useful. For a complete list of commonly used sentences, please visit our Cantonese Phrases page. Enjoy!
Language Quote: Approximately one new word is added to the English language every two hours and around 4,000 new words are added to the English dictionary every year.
Congratulations! You finished your 6th lesson in Cantonese about numbers, and school terms. Are you ready for the next lesson? We recommend Cantonese Lesson 7. You can also simply click on one of the links below or go back to our Learn Cantonese homepage.