47.4 The Preposition 由 jau4 (‘from’)
The preposition 由 jau4 means ‘from’. We can use 由 jau4 to indicate the starting location of a movement. We put the location after 由 jau4 to form a prepositional phrase.
We put the prepositional phrase before the verb we want to modify.
We often use 由 jau4 with the verbs 去 heoi3 and 嚟 lai4 to form the following structure to indicate movement from one location to another location. We choose 去 heoi3 or 嚟 lai4 based on whether the movement is away from or toward our position (See Grammar and Vocabulary 36.2).
We can put this structure in a sentence.
由呢度去屯門要個半鐘。
jau4 ni1 dou6 heoi3 tyun4 mun4 jiu3 go3 bun3 zung1.
Going from here to Tuen Mun needs one and a half hours.
由旺角嚟呢度要半個鐘。
jau4 wong6 gok3 lai4 ni1 dou6 jiu3 bun3 go3 zung1.
Coming from Mong Kok to here needs half an hour.
In Grammar and Vocabulary 8.4, we also learned that the preposition 喺 hai2 (also pronounced as 响 hoeng2) means ‘from’. We can also form the structure with 喺 hai2.
喺呢度去屯門要個半鐘。
hai2 ni1 dou6 heoi3 tyun4 mun4 jiu3 go3 bun3 zung1.
Going from here to Tuen Mun needs one and a half hours.
喺旺角嚟呢度要半個鐘。
hai2 wong6 gok3 lai4 ni1 dou6 jiu3 bun3 go3 zung1.
Coming from Mong Kok to here needs half an hour.
We can usually use 由 jau4 and 喺 hai2 interchangeably to mean ‘from’.