52.3 The Aspect Particle 咗 zo2 with Predicative Adjectives II

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In Grammar and Vocabulary 51.2, we learned that we can use the aspect particle 咗 zo2 with a predicative adjective to add the meaning of ‘to have become’ or ‘to have become more’ to a sentence. We also learned that we can add an adverb after 咗 zo2 to indicate the degree of the quality.

We sometimes use the aspect particle 咗 zo2 with a predicative adjective and an adverb to indicate how much something is different from what is suitable (e.g., medium size is a bit larger than suitable).

Subject	Predicative Adjective	咗 zo2	Adverb	SP
中碼	大	咗	啲	呀	。
zung1 maa5	daai6	zo2	di1	aa3	.
medium size	large	AP	a bit	SP
Medium size is a bit large.
三十吋	鬆	咗	少少	呀	。
saam1 sap6 cyun3	sung1	zo2	siu2 siu2	aa3	.
30 inches	loose	AP	a little bit	SP
30 inches [size for pants] is a little bit loose.

To soften the statement and make it sound less firm, we can add 好似 hou2 ci5 (‘seem’) before the adjective and 噉 gam2 (‘seem’) after the adverb.

Subject	好似 hou2 ci5 ‘seem’	Predicative Adjective	咗 zo2	Adverb	噉 gam2 ‘seem’	SP
中碼	好似	大	咗	啲	噉	呀	。
zung1 maa5	hou2 ci5	daai6	zo2	di1	gam2	aa3	.
medium size	seem	large	AP	a bit	seem	SP
Medium size seems a bit large.
三十吋	好似	鬆	咗	少少	噉	呀	。
saam1 sap6 cyun3	hou2 ci5	sung1	zo2	siu2 siu2	gam2	aa3	.
30 inches	seem	loose	AP	a little bit	seem	SP
30 inches [size for pants] seems a little bit loose.