Cantonese/Lesson 9

Days of a Week

Spoken form	Written form	Yale	English
禮拜一	星期一	láih baai yāt	Monday
禮拜二	星期二	láih baai yih	Tuesday
禮拜三	星期三	láih baai sāam	Wednesday
禮拜四	星期四	láih baai sei	Thursday
禮拜五	星期五	láih baai ńgh	Friday
禮拜六	星期六	láih baai luhk	Saturday
禮拜日	星期日	láih baai yaht	Sunday

Months of a Year

Spoken & Written form	Yale	English
一月	yāt yuht	January
二月	yih yuht	February
三月	sāam yuht	March
四月	sei yuht	April
五月	ńgh yuht	May
六月	luhk yuht	June
七月	chāt yuht	July
八月	baat yuht	August
九月	gáu yuht	September
十月	sahp yuht	October
十一月	sahp yāt yuht	November
十二月	sahp yih yuht	December

Seasons of a Year

Spoken & Written form	Yale	English
春天	chēun tīn	Spring
夏天	hah tīn	Summer
秋天	chāu tīn	Autumn
冬天	dūng tīn	Winter

Time of a day

Spoken form	Written form	Yale	English
上晝	上午	séuhng jau	A.M.
中午	中午	jung ńgh	Noon
下晝 / 晏晝	下午	hah jau / ngaan jau	P.M.

Time on a clock

• For telling time, 兩 is used instead of 二 for the hour, use 二 for the minute.
• The Cantonese for "o'clock" is 點鐘. Study the following examples:

Spoken form	Written form	Yale	English
上晝一點鐘	上午一時	séuhng jau yāt dím jūng	one A.M.
下晝兩點鐘	下午二時	hah jau léuhng dím jūng	two P.M.

• The Cantonese for "half past" is 點半 (and 半 means "half of"). Study the following examples:

Spoken form	Written form	Yale	English
上晝三點半	上午三時三十分	séuhng jau sāam dím bun	half past three A.M.
下晝四點半	下午四時三十分	hah jau sei dím bun	half past four P.M.

• The time not exactly "o'clock" can be said with the format "x點y分". Study the following examples:

Spoken form	Written form	Yale	English
上晝一點四十分	上午一時四十分	séuhng jau yāt dím sei sahp fān	twenty to two A.M.
下晝兩點二十三分	下午二時二十三分	hah jau léuhng dím yih sahp sāam fān	twenty-three past two P.M.