1.1 Personal Pronouns

🔍 Observe!

Observe the personal pronouns and complete the description.

ngo5
I; me
nei5
you (singular)
 
keoi5 / heoi5
he, she, it; him, her, it
我哋
ngo5 dei6
we; us
你哋
nei5 dei6
you (plural)
 
佢哋
keoi5 dei6 / heoi5 dei6
they; them

We add ________ behind a single personal pronoun (for one person) to form a plural personal pronoun (for more than one person).

Singular
(One person)
Plural
(More than one person)
ngo5
I; me
我哋
ngo5 dei6
we; us
nei5
you (singular)
你哋
nei5 dei6
you (plural)

keoi5 /
heoi5
he, she, it;
him, her, it

佢哋
keoi5 dei6 /
heoi5 dei6
they;
them

1.

We add dei6 behind a single personal pronoun to form a plural personal pronoun.

⚠️ This rule is only applied to personal pronouns, but not other nouns.

2.

keoi5 and 佢哋 keoi5 dei6 don’t indicate the gender of the person or people being referred to.

3.

In English, the pronouns it and they can be used to refer to something that does not have life.

In Cantonese, we mostly use 佢 keoi5 and 佢哋 keoi5 dei6 to refer to human being or something animate (i.e. having life or sensations).

4.

In English, personal pronouns for the subject and the object in a sentence are different.

Subject
Object
He
likes
him
.
To refer to a male, the pronoun he is used as the subject and the pronoun him as the object.

In Cantonese, we use the same sets of personal pronouns for both the subject and the object in a sentence.

Subject
Object
鍾意
keoi5
zung1 ji3
keoi5
.
He / she likes him / her.
The same pronoun 佢 keoi5 is used as the subject and the object.