6. Introduction to Cantonese
Word Order
Word order refers to the order used for arranging different components in a sentence. Cantonese uses this basic word order:
In a sentence, the subject is basically the noun which comes before the verb, and the object is the noun which comes after the verb.
If the verb refers to an action, the subject is usually someone or something which starts the action, and the object is affected by the action.
Note that the description above only applies to languages with the word order like English and Cantonese.
While sentences are generally formed with the basic word order above, you will quite often see sentences formed differently.
For example, components are sometimes moved to another position.
-
我食壽司呀。
ngo5 sik6 sau6 si1 aa3.
I eat sushi. -
食壽司呀我。
sik6 sau6 si1 aa3 ngo5.
I eat sushi.
The subject 我 ngo5, which means ‘I’, is moved to the end.
Also, components are sometimes omitted if they are clear and obvious in the context.
你食咩呀？
nei5 sik6 me1 aa3?
What do you want to eat?
↓
食咩呀？
sik6 me1 aa3?
What do you want to eat?
The subject 你 nei2, which means ‘you’, is omitted because it is obvious that ‘you’ is being asked in the context.
Word Classes
Word classes (also known as parts of speech) are categories of words. Words of the same word class share similar grammatical properties.
You will encounter the following word classes throughout the book.
老師 lou5 si1 teacher
書 syu1 book
學校 hok6 haau6 school
Classifiers are a type of words we need to add before a noun in several situations (e.g., when counting the number of something).
一個老師
jat1 go3 lou5 si1
one teacher
兩本書
loeng5 bun2 syu1
two books
三間學校
saam1 gaan1 hok6 haau6
three schools
我 ngo5 I
你 nei5 you
佢 keoi5 he/she/it
學 hok6 to learn
跑步 paau2 bou6 to run
買 maai5 to buy
Aspect particles are used with verbs to express aspectual meaning (e.g., whether an action is ongoing or complete).
我跑緊步。
ngo5 paau2 gan2 bou6.
I am running.
我買咗咖啡。
ngo5 maai5 zo2 gaa3 fe1.
I have bought coffee.
Verbal particles are used with verbs to express meaning related to verbs (e.g., whether an action is done successfully).
我煮好飯喇。
ngo5 zyu2 hou2 faan6 laa3.
I have finished cooking.
Adjectives are used to modify nouns. In the context of grammar, the word modify means ‘to describe’ or ‘to provide extra details about’.
好食嘅壽司
hou2 sik6 ge3 sau6 si1
delicious sushi
新嘅鞋
san1 ge3 haai4
new shoes
特別嘅地方
dak6 bit6 ge3 dei6 fong1
special place
Adverbs are used to modify verbs, adjectives or sentences.
Modifying a verb:
講得好快
gong2 dak1 hou2 faai3
speak very fast
This is not strictly an adverb. In Cantonese, we use grammatical constructions, rather than adverbs, to modify verbs.
Modifying an adjective:
太難
taai3 naan4
too difficult
Modifying a sentence:
我都鍾意行山。
ngo5 dou1 zung1 ji3 haang4 saan1.
I also like hiking.
Coverbs
Prepositions appear before nouns. They are usually used to express spatial relationships. Since prepositions share some similarities with verbs in Cantonese, they are also called coverbs.
我喺香港做嘢。
ngo5 hai2 hoeng1 gong2 zou6 je5.
I work in Hong Kong.
Localizers
Postpositions appear after nouns. They are usually used to express spatial relationships. Since they are related to locations, they are also called localizers.
課室出面有人。
fo3 sat1 ceot1 min6 jau5 jan4.
There is someone outside the classroom.
Sentence particles are added to the end of a sentence to perform different functions (e.g., signaling a question).
你叫咩名呀？
nei5 giu3 me1 meng2 aa3?
What is your name?
呀 aa3 signals a question.
Conjunctions can be used to link two elements (e.g., two nouns or two clauses).
我同你
ngo5 tung4 nei5
I and you
我想買樓，但係我冇錢。
ngo5 soeng2 maai5 lau2, daan6 hai6 ngo5 mou5 cin2.
I want to buy a house, but I don’t have the money.
Here are a few points to note:
-
Verbs are not conjugated in Cantonese. Time is usually expressed through adverbs, and aspect (e.g., whether an action is ongoing or complete) is usually expressed through aspect particles.
-
Sometimes multiple words are used together in a sentence to express one meaning. The words are usually from different word classes (e.g., one adverb and one sentence particle).
我淨係鍾意你咋。
ngo5 zing6 hai6 zung1 ji3 nei5 zaa3.
I only like you.
The adverb 淨係 zing6 hai6 in the front and the sentence particle 咋 zaa3 at the end are used together to express the meaning of ‘only’.
- The term phrase refers to a group of words which functions as a grammatical unit in a sentence.
我喺香港做嘢。
ngo5 hai2 hoeng1 gong2 zou6 je5.
I work in Hong Kong.
喺 hai2 is a preposition which means ‘in’ and 香港 hoeng1 gong2 is a noun which means ‘Hong Kong’. 喺香港 hai2 hoeng1 gong2 is a prepositional phrase which, as a whole, functions as a grammatical unit to express spatial meaning in the sentence.
Words with Multiple Meanings and Functions
Many Cantonese words have multiple meanings or functions. This is especially common for prepositions and sentence particles. You need to consider the context of the sentence to figure out the meaning or function.
-
我喺香港做野。
ngo5 hai2 hoeng1 gong2 zou6 je5.
I work in Hon Kong. -
我喺香港嚟。
ngo5 hai2 hoeng1 gong2 lai4.
I come from Hon Kong.
The preposition 喺 hai2 means ‘in’ in the first sentence and ‘from’ in the second sentence.
Words with Multiple Pronunciations
Some Cantonese words have more than one pronunciation. For example, the third-person pronoun (‘he, she, it’) is pronounced as keoi5 or heoi5.
When you are introduced to a word like this for the first time, all its common pronunciations will be listed. The first pronunciation listed will be used to refer to the word thereafter for convenience. You will still hear different pronunciations in the audio of this book because this can prepare you for communication in the real world.
Code-Mixing
Code-mixing refers to the situation when a speaker mixes more than one language in a sentence. It is common for Hong Kong Cantonese speakers to mix English words into their Cantonese sentences. Here is an example:
你 check 咗 email 未呀？我 send 咗啲快勞畀你喇。
nei5 check zo2 email mei6 aa3? ngo5 send zo2 di1 faai1 lou2 bei2 nei5 laa3.
Have you checked your emails? I have sent the files to you.
You will be introduced to the situations where English words are usually used throughout the book.