36.5 The Conjunction 嗰陣時 go2 zan6 si4 (‘when’)

Audio is not available for this page yet.

The conjunction 嗰陣時 go2 zan6 si4 means ‘when’ in the sense of ‘at the time that’ (as in when coming back, please buy some beer for me). It literally means ‘that time’. 嗰陣時 go2 zan6 si4 can be contracted as 嗰陣 go2 zan6 or 嗰時 go2 si4. We use 嗰陣時 go2 zan6 si4 to add a time description to a sentence. The time description indicates when the main activity in the sentence happens. It will also be an activity. We put 嗰陣時 go2 zan6 si4 after the time description. If the subject of the time description and the subject of the main activity are the same, we usually omit one of them.

The subject of the time description is omitted in these two examples:

Time Description嗰陣時
go2 zan6 si4
‘when’		Main Activity
你返嚟嗰陣時，你幫我買啲啤酒吖。
nei5 faan1 lai4go2 zan6 si4，nei5 bong1 ngo5 maai5 di1 be1 zau2 aa1.
come backwhenplease buy some beer for me
When coming back, please buy some beer for me.
你落去嗰陣時，你幫我還書吖。
nei5 lok6 heoi3go2 zan6 si4，nei5 bong1 ngo5 waan4 syu1 aa1.
go downwhenplease return the books for me
When going down, please return the books for me.

The subject of the main activity is omitted in these examples:

Time Description嗰陣時
go2 zan6 si4
‘when’		Main Activity
你返嚟嗰陣時，你幫我買啲啤酒吖.
nei5 faan1 lai4go2 zan6 si4，nei5 bong1 ngo5 maai5 di1 be1 zau2 aa1。
you come backwhenplease buy some beer for me
When you come back, please buy some beer for me.
你落去嗰陣時，你幫我還書吖。
nei5 lok6 heoi3go2 zan6 si4，nei5 bong1 ngo5 waan4 syu1 aa1.
you go downwhenplease return the books for me
When you go down, please return the books for me.