13.4 The Aspect Particle 咗 zo2 (Perfective)

The aspect particle 咗 zo2 functions like the present perfect tense in English (e.g., I have eaten breakfast). We use 咗 zo2 to indicate an activity has been completed. The completion of the activity is often relevant to the present (e.g., it is done recently, or it will affect what we do in the present). We also use 咗 zo2 to indicate a state has changed if the changed state remains true in the present. In grammar, this aspect is called the perfective aspect.

If we want to indicate how long an activity has been completed or a state has changed, we can add duration to the sentence. To add duration to a sentence, we put the duration after the whole verb phrase. If the verb phrase has an aspect particle or an object, we put the duration after all of them. For separable verbs, we put the duration after the whole separable verb.

We can add the adverb 大約 daai6 joek3 (‘about’) and the suffix 到 dou2 (‘about’) or the adverb 左右 zo2 jau2 (‘about’) to indicate an approximate number.

If the sentence has an object, we can also put the duration before the object. For separable verbs, we can put the duration before the second syllable (the object part). We usually only do so when the verb refers to an activity that can be continued over time (e.g., 拍拖 paak3 to1 ‘to date’). For example, it will sound less natural if we do so with verbs like 結婚 git3 fan1 (‘to get married’) because the action of getting married can be done once only.

Again, we can add 大約 daai6 joek3 and 到 dou2 or 左右 zo2 jau2 to indicate an approximate number.

Note that when indicating an activity is ongoing, we use 緊 gan2 if duration is not mentioned, but we use 咗 zo2 if duration is mentioned.