18.2 Serial Verb Constructions III (Object)
Audio is not available for this page yet.
In Grammar and Vocabulary 16.4, we learned this type of serial verb construction: the first verb phrase is formed by 有 jau5, 冇 mou5 or 有冇 jau5 mou5 and a noun, and the second verb phrase provides details about the noun.
For this type of serial verb construction, the noun in the first verb phrase is sometimes the object of the activity in the second verb phrase. We will see a few examples like this in this lesson.
The noun 嘢 je5 in the first verb phrase can refer to anything. The second verb phrase 想食 soeng2 sik6 specifies that 嘢 je5 are the things that the listener wants to eat. 嘢 je5 can be seen as the object of 想食 soeng2 sik6. The noun 嘢 je5 in the first verb phrase can refer to anything. The second verb phrase 唔食m4 sik6 specifies that 嘢 je5 are the things that the listener doesn’t eat. 嘢 je5 can be seen as the object of 唔食 m4 sik6.The noun in the first verb phrase can also be a question word (e.g., 乜嘢 mat1 je5 / 咩 me1 ‘what’). The two examples below are similar to the two examples above in meaning. The only difference is that 嘢 je5 (‘thing’) is replaced by 咩 me1 (‘what’).