Besides bare noun phrases, we can also use indefinite noun phrases to refer to a type of person or thing in general. To form an indefinite noun phrase, we add the number 一 jat1 (‘one’) and a classifier before a noun. This is similar to noun phrases with the indefinite article a or an in English (e.g., a teacher).

In Grammar and Vocabulary 2.6, we learned to form sentences with the sentence particle 嚟 lai4 and the verb 係 hai6 (‘to be’). We can use an indefinite noun phrase as the subject complement.

The noun phrase 一個老師 jat1 go3 lou5 si1 is an indefinite noun phrase. It has the number 一 jat1 and the classifier 個 go1 before the noun 老師 lou5 si1. It refers to teachers, a type of occupation.

We can omit the number 一 jat1 if the indefinite noun phrase appears after a verb (as an object or a subject complement).

Notice when the verb 係 hai6 is not added to the sentence, we usually don’t use an indefinite noun phrase as the subject complement. We can use a bare noun phrase instead.