1.4 Introduction to Sentence Particles

🔍 Observe!

Observe the sentences. The highlighted words are a type of words called sentence particles.

  1. 佢係Jeffrey呀？
    keoi5 hai6 Jeffrey aa4?

  2. 我識廣東話同英文咋。
    ngo5 sik1 gwong2 dung1 waa2 tung4 jing1 man2 zaa3.

  3. 我好鍾意佢呀！
    ngo5 hou2 zung1 ji3 keoi5 aa3!

Where do the sentence particles appear in a sentence?

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Sentence particles (SPs) are a type of words that we add at the end of a sentence. They can perform different functions in a sentence. Here are some examples:

Forming a Question

  1. 佢係Jeffrey。
    keoi5 hai6 Jeffrey.
    He is Jeffrey.

  2. 佢係Jeffrey呀？
    keoi5 hai6 Jeffrey aa4?
    He is Jeffrey?
    The sentence particle 呀 aa4 is added to turn the sentence into a question.

Adding Meaning to a Sentence

  1. 我識廣東話同英文。
    ngo5 sik1 gwong2 dung1 waa2 tung4 jing1 man2.
    I know Cantonese and English.

  2. 我識廣東話同英文咋。
    ngo5 sik1 gwong2 dung1 waa2 tung4 jing1 man2 zaa3.
    I only know Cantonese and English.
    The sentence particle 咋 zaa3 adds the meaning of ‘only’ to the sentence.

Changing the Tone of a Sentence

Note that the word tone here refers to the emotion of a sentence, not the pitch of a syllable.

  1. 我好鍾意佢。
    ngo5 hou2 zung1 ji3 keoi5.
    I like him / her so much.

  2. 我好鍾意佢呀！
    ngo5 hou2 zung1 ji3 keoi5 aa3!
    I like him / her so much!
    The sentence particle 呀 aa3 makes the tone of the sentence stronger.

There are a lot more functions that sentence particles can perform. We will discover them as we proceed.