3.3 The Conjunctions 同 tung4 (‘and’) and 同埋 tung4 maai4 (‘and’)

The conjunction tung4 means ‘and’. We use 同 tung4 to join two or more items.

Item 1
Item 2
我鍾意
行山
游水
ngo5 zung1 ji3
haang4 saan1
tung4
jau4 seoi2
.
I like hiking and swimming.
Item 1
Item 2
我鍾意
打機
打波
ngo5 zung1 ji3
daa2 gei1
tung4
daa2 bo1
.
I like playing video games and playing basketball.

When there are more than two items, we add 同 tung4 before the last item.

Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
我鍾意
行山
游水
打機
ngo5 zung1 ji3
haang4 saan1
,
jau4 seoi2
tung4
daa2 gei1
.
I like hiking, swimming and playing video games.

We sometimes add 同 tung4 between every item, especially when we are coming up with the items immediately so we are not sure which is the last item.

Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
我鍾意
行山
游水
打機
ngo5 zung1 ji3
haang4 saan1
tung4
jau4 seoi2
tung4
daa2 gei1
.
I like hiking, swimming and playing video games.

同埋 tung4 maai4 also means ‘and’. We can use 同埋 tung4 maai4 to join two or more items too.

Item 1
Item 2
我鍾意
行山
游水
ngo5 zung1 ji3
haang4 saan1
tung4
jau4 seoi2
.
I like hiking and swimming.
Item 1
Item 2
我鍾意
行山
同埋
游水
ngo5 zung1 ji3
haang4 saan1
tung4 maai4
jau4 seoi2
.
I like hiking and swimming.

To mean ‘and’, we can use 同 tung4 and 同埋 tung4 maai4 interchangeably. However, note that 同 tung4 and 同埋 tung4 maai4 are not always interchangeable in other contexts.