Basics

Please note that the Cantonese pronunciations are not necessarily the Jyutping of the word.

Cantonese and Mandarin are different dialects although the same characters are used, it could have a different meaning. Sometimes characters with the similar sound are used in informal Cantonese, which is what I will be covering.


English - Chinese characters - Cantonese Pronunciation

Hello(used when answering the phone ONLY) - 喂 - Wai
Can also be used as "hey" when said in a slightly higher tone but you wouldn't necessarily use it to greet people as you would do with "hello". Wai is an informal greeting.

How are you - 你好嗎? - Nei hou maa?

How have you been recently? - 最近點呀? Jeoi gan dim aa?

I'm called - 我叫 - Ngo giu
You say this, followed by your name.

Yes - 係 - Hai

No - 唔係 - M hai

Good/yes - 好 - Hou

Not good/no - 唔好 - M hou
The "M" is pronounced like you are thinking, and you make a mm sound.

Have you eaten rice? - 食咗飯未呀? Sik chor faan mei aa?
This is usually asked as manners like "how are you?"

Replies:
Eaten - 食咗 - Sik chor
Not eaten - 未食 - Mei sik

Do you want tea? - 飲唔飲茶呀? Yam m yam cha aa?
Chinese people are very polite, and when people come in the house, tea is always offered.
The two main teas offered are milk tea - 奶茶 - naai cha and Chinese tea/green tea - 中國茶/綠茶。
I shall go through the different types of Chinese tea at a later date if needed.
Milk tea is English tea, it is called milk tea in Cantonese because you add milk in it.

Replies:
No need thanks - 唔使啦唔該 - M sai la m goi
Yes please - 好呀唔該 - Hou a m goi

呀 - aa is usually added on the end of most sentences, it doesn't mean anything, it's just an ending sound. We have quite a few of these in the Cantonese dialect, I shall cover these in another post.