Listen to Podcast | Cantonese: How Do You Say “Thank You”

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Podcast Transcript | Cantonese: How Do You Say “Thank You”

Hi everyone! My name is Eugene and once again, welcome to our Cantonese – How Do You Say Podcast on LearnDialect.sg. In today’s podcast, we will be covering a commonly-used phrase in everyday life, “Thank you”!

So yes, “thank you” 用廣東話點講?

There are a few ways to express “Thank You”. We have:

唔該, which we have learnt previously to mean “thank you”. However, this is only meant for thanking others who have rendered you a service or assistance. For gifts, Cantonese speakers would say 多谢. These are the two phrases most commonly used to express thanks. I’ll repeat again, 唔該 and 多谢.

Sometimes, you may hear 唔該晒 or 多谢晒. Adding the word – 晒 – expresses a deeper level of thanks as it means “in entirety”. As such, 唔該晒 or 多谢晒 is taken to mean “thank you very much”.

When responding to a word of thanks, Cantonese people will typically answer with 唔使客氣. This is the Cantonese way of saying “You’re welcome” but translates more accurately into “There’s no need for formalities”. Let me say it one more time, 唔使客氣.

A word of thanks to show appreciation – 唔該 or 多谢 – and knowing how to respond – 唔使客氣 – in a polite manner goes a long way.

Hope this helps in your daily conversations and thank you for listening in to our Cantonese – How Do You Say Podcast on LearnDialect.sg. My name is Eugene and see you the next time!

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Our Philosophy for Learning Cantonese in Singapore

At LearnDialect.sg, we want to make learning Cantonese fun, easy and practical for daily conversations in Singapore. As such, rather than figuring out which of the 10 or more Cantonese romanization system to use (e.g. Jyutping, Yale or Cantonese Pinyin etc.), we encourage you to form your own phonics, so that you make an association with these Cantonese words in the quickest way possible. To illustrate, the romanization of the English word, “eat”, is “Sik” using Jyutping and “Sihk” using Yale. However, in our “Have You Eaten?” podcast transcript, you’ll find that we use “sek”, which we think relates to us better. That said, you may use other romanization (e.g “sake”, “xig”, etc), as long as it helps you to make sense of what you hear.