16.6 Verbs for Movement II
In Grammar and Vocabulary 8.5, we learned this type of serial verb construction: the first verb phrase indicates movement to a location, and the second verb phrase indicates the purpose of the movement.
This type of serial verb construction will come up again in this lesson. We will learn some more common verbs for movement below. Notice locations are not added after the verbs in the examples below.
We can put 去 heoi3 (‘to go’) or 出去 ceot1 heoi3 (‘to go out’) before an activity if we go out or go to another location to do the activity.
不如我哋去睇戲吖。
bat1 jyu4 ngo5 dei6 heoi3 tai2 hei3 aa1.
Why don’t we go to see a movie?
不如我哋出去睇戲吖。
bat1 jyu4 ngo5 dei6 ceot1 heoi3 tai2 hei3 aa1.
Why don’t we go out to see a movie?
We can also use 出嚟 ceot1 lai4 (‘to come out’, also pronounced as ceot1 lei4), but only when the listener is not at the same location with us.
不如我哋出嚟食飯吖。
bat1 jyu4 ngo5 dei6 ceot1 lai4 sik6 faan6 aa1.
Why don’t we come out to have a meal?
We use 嚟 lai4 (‘to come’, also pronounced as lei4) or 過嚟 gwo3 lai4 (‘to come over’, also pronounced as gwo3 lei4) if we want to invite the listener to come to our location.
你有冇興趣嚟打機呀？
nei5 jau5 mou5 hing3 ceoi3 lai4 daa2 gei1 aa3?
Do you have an interest in coming to play video games?
[= Are you interested in coming to play video games?]
你有冇興趣過嚟打機呀？
nei5 jau5 mou5 hing3 ceoi3 gwo3 lai4 daa2 gei1 aa3?
Do you have an interest in coming over to play video games?
[= Are you interested in coming over to play video games?]
Note that if the activity already starts with the verb 去 (e.g. 去沙灘 heoi3 saa1 taan1 ‘to go to the beach’), we don’t usually put another verb for movement before it.