14.3 Referring to Members in a Group (‘one of them, two of them, etc.’)
If we want to refer to one of the members in a group of people or things, we can say 一 jat1 (‘one’) and then the classifier to mean ‘one of them’. The classifier is determined by what we are referring to. For example, we use 個 go3 if we are referring to people.
| A: | 你兩個仔女今年幾大呀？ nei5 loeng5 go3 zai2 neoi2 gam1 nin4 gei2 daai6 aa3? How old are your two children this year? |
| B: | 一個三歲，一個五歲。 jat1 go3 saam1 seoi3, jat1 go3 ng5 seoi3. One of them is 3 years old. One of them is 5 years old. |
We can also use numbers above one to mean ‘two of them, three of them, etc.’.
| A: | 你三個仔女做緊嘢定讀緊書㗎？ nei5 saam1 go3 zai2 neoi2 zou6 gan2 je5 ding6 duk6 gan2 syu1 gaa3? Are your three children working or studying? |
| B: | 兩個做緊嘢，一個讀緊書。 loeng5 go3 zou6 gan2 je5, jat1 go3 duk6 gan2 syu1. Two of them are working. One of them is studying. |
We can add 都 dou1 (‘all’) after the classifier to mean ‘all two of them, all three of them, etc.’.
| A: | 你三個仔女做緊嘢定讀緊書㗎？ nei5 saam1 go3 zai2 neoi2 zou6 gan2 je5 ding6 duk6 gan2 syu1 gaa3? Are your three children working or studying? |
| B: | 三個都做緊嘢喇。 saam1 go3 dou1 zou6 gan2 je5 laa3. All three of them are already working. |