Cantonese

Standard Cantonese

Cantonese, or Standard Cantonese, is a language that originated in the vicinity of Canton in southern China, and is often regarded as the prestige dialect of Yue Chinese....

is an analytic language where, in a sentence, the arrangement of words is important to its meaning. A basic sentence is in form of SVO, i.e. a subject

Subject (grammar)

The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...

 is followed by a verb

Verb

A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...

 then by an object

Object (grammar)

An object in grammar is part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate. It denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb. Basically, it is what or whom the verb is acting upon...

, though this order is often violated because Cantonese is a Topic-prominent language

Topic-prominent language

A topic-prominent language is a language that organizes its syntax to emphasize the topic–comment structure of the sentence. The term is best known in American linguistics from Charles N...

. Unlike synthetic language

Synthetic language

In linguistic typology, a synthetic language is a language with a high morpheme-per-word ratio, as opposed to a low morpheme-per-word ratio in what is described as an isolating language...

s, seldom do words indicate time

Time

Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....

, gender

Gender

Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...

 and plural

Plural

In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...

 by inflection. Instead, these concepts are expressed through adverbs, aspect markers, and particles, or are deduced from the context. Different particles are added to a sentence

Sentence (linguistics)

In the field of linguistics, a sentence is an expression in natural language, and often defined to indicate a grammatical unit consisting of one or more words that generally bear minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it...

 to further specify its status or intonation

Intonation (linguistics)

In linguistics, intonation is variation of pitch while speaking which is not used to distinguish words. It contrasts with tone, in which pitch variation does distinguish words. Intonation, rhythm, and stress are the three main elements of linguistic prosody...

.

A verb itself indicates no tense

Grammatical tense

A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...

. The time can be explicitly shown with time-indicating adverbs. Certain exceptions exist, however, according to the pragmatic interpretation of a verb's meaning. Additionally, an optional aspect

Grammatical aspect

In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...

 particle can be appended to a verb to indicate the state of an event. Appending interrogative or exclamative particles to a sentence turns a sentence into a question or shows the attitudes of the speaker.

Verbal Aspect

In contrast to many European languages, Cantonese verbs are marked for aspect rather than tense - that is, whether an event has begun, is ongoing, or has been completed. Tense - where an event occurs within time, ie past, present, future - is specified through the use of time adverbs. In addition, verbal complements may convey aspectual distinctions, indicating whether an event is just beginning, is continuing, or at completion, and also the effect of the verb on its object(s).

Aspect particles are treated as suffixes bound to the verb.

Aspect	Marker	Usage	Example
Perfective	zo2 (咗)	To emphasise a completed activity the result of which still applies to the present situation	我I 喺at/in 香港Hong Kong 住咗live-PERF 一one 年year = I have lived in Hong Kong for a year (and still live here)
Experiential	gwo3 (過)	To emphasise an activity completed in the indeterminate past which no longer applies to the present situation	我I 喺at/in 香港Hong Kong 住過live-EXPR 一one 年year = I lived in Hong Kong for a year (but am now elsewhere)
Progressive	gan2 (緊)	To emphasise a dynamic activity which may undergo a change of state	我I 著緊wear-PROG 衫clothes = I am putting on clothes
Durative	zyu6 (住)	To emphasise a continuous activity without a change of state	我I 著住wear-DUR 衫clothes = I am wearing clothes
Delimitative	haa5 (吓)	To emphasise an activity of brief duration	等Let 我me 著吓wear-DEL = Let me wear it for a while
Habitual	hoi1 (開)	To emphasise an activity protracted over a period of time to the point that it has become characteristic or habitual	我I 做開do-HAB 鐘點part-time 嘅SFP = I normally work part time
Inchoative	hei2-soeng5-lai4 (起上嚟)	To emphasise the beginning of an activity	個CL BBbaby 突然之間suddenly 喊起上嚟cry-INCH = the baby suddenly began crying
Continuative	lok6-heoi3 (落去)	To emphasise the continuation of an activity	你you唔NEG 使need 再again 講落去speak-CONT 喇SFP = You don't have to go on speaking

Abbreviations: CL = classifier; SFP = sentence-final particle

Final particles

Cantonese has many final particles to change the moods or sometimes even the meaning of an utterance. There are also many combinations of these final particles.

Particle	Jyutping	Usage	Example
呀	aa3	Used in neutral questions. Also used to soften the tone of affirmative statements so they don't sound as abrupt.	你去邊處呀? Where are you going? 我返屋企呀 I'm going home.
嘅	ge3	Used in assertions where something is emphasized (usually 係 hai6 is in front of what is being emphasized). Pronouncing it as ge2 adds a sense of puzzlement about the situation. This is equivalent to the Mandarin/written Chinese 的 dik1.	我係今日返屋企嘅 I'm going home today. (the "today" is emphasized)
㗎	gaa3	Contraction of the combination 嘅呀 ge3 aa3.	你係幾時返來㗎? When are you coming back? (the "when" is emphasized)
喇	laa1	Used in requests and imperatives. This is one particle where leaving it out could make the sentence sound rude. This is equivalent to the Mandarin/written Chinese sentence final 吧 baa6.	返來喇 Come back [please].
囉	lo1	Indicates a suggestion or conclusion that should be obvious (usually occurs with 咪 mai6).	我冇車咪返唔到屋企囉 Without a car, [then of course] I am unable to go home.
啫	ze1	Can be used to mean "only" or "that's all," or used to play down the significance of the situation.	佢返一日啫 He's only coming back for one day.

There are more final particles than those shown above, such as 嘞laak3, 囉lo1, 咯lo3, 吓ha2, 呵ho2, 吖aa4, 㗎gaa4, 喎wo5, 啩gwaa3, 噃bo3, 喎wo3 and 咩me1.

Final particles may sometimes combine to convey multiple moods. There are unwritten rules about which particles can be combined and in what order they occur which are probably too complicated to explain here. However, one good rule of thumb is that 嘅 ge3 always comes before the other particles. In addition, the particles used in questions (呀 aa3, 咩 me1, 呢 ne1, 嗎 maa3, etc.) always come last.

Pronouns

Cantonese uses the following pronouns, which like in many other Sinitic languages, function as both subjective (English: I, he, we) and objective (me, him, us):

Pronoun	Pronunciation (in Jyutping Jyutping Jyutping is a romanization system for Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong in 1993. Its formal name is The Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanization Scheme... )	Grammatical Classification	English equivalent
我	ngo5	1st person singular	I / me
你	nei5	2nd person singular	you
佢	keoi5	3rd person singular	He / she
我哋	ngo5 dei6	1st person plural	We / us
你哋	nei5 dei6	2nd person plural	You (all)
佢哋	keoi5 dei6	3rd person plural	They / Them

Copula ("to be")

States and qualities are generally expressed using stative verbs that do not require the verb "to be". For example, to say "I am hungry", one would say 我肚餓 (ngo5 tou5 ngo6) (literally: I stomach hungry).

With noun complements, the verb 係 hai6 serves as the verb "to be".

噚日係中秋節 cam4jat6 hai6 zung1cau1zit3 Yesterday was [the] Mid-Autumn festival

Another use of 係 is in cleft constructions for emphasis, much like the English construction "It's ... that ...". The sentence particle 嘅 ge3 if often found along with it.

佢係完全唔識講廣東話嘅 keoi5 hai6 jyun4cyun4 m4 sik6 gwong2dung1wa6*2 ge "(It is the case that) s/he doesn't know Cantonese at all."

To indicate location, the words 喺 hai2 and 响 hoeng2, which are collectively known as the locatives or sometimes coverbs in Chinese linguistics, are used to express "to be at":

我而家喺圖書館 ngo5 ji4gaa1 hai2 tou4syu1gun2 "I am at the library now"

(Here 依家 ji4 gaa1 means "now".)

Negations

Many negation words start with the sound m- in Cantonese; for example, 唔 m4 (not), 冇 mou5 (not have), 未 mei6 (not yet). Verbs are negated by adding the character 唔 m4 in front of it. For example:

我食得花生 I can eat peanuts
(Where 食 sik6 is the verb "to eat")

becomes:

我唔食得花生 I cannot eat peanuts

The exception is the word 有 jau5 (to have), which turns into 冇 mou5 (don't have) without the use of 唔.

The negative imperative is formed by prefixing 唔好 m4 hou2 or 咪 mai5 in front of the verb:

唔好睇戲 Don't watch movies

咪睇戲 Don't watch movies

In contrast to the examples of sentential negation above where the entire sentence is negated, 唔 can also be used lexically to negate a single word. The negated word often differs slightly in meaning from the original word; that is, this lexcial negation is a kind of derivation. Evidence for this is that they can be used with the perfective aspect particle 咗 zo2, which is not possible with sententially negated verbs.

見 (see) --> 唔見 (lose)

記得 (remember) --> 唔記得 (forget)

錯 (wrong) --> 唔錯 (pretty good; not bad)/ 冇錯(right)

我唔見咗我本書 "I lost my book"

is perfectly acceptable, but

'*'我唔食咗嘢 "I did not eat"

is ungrammatical. (The correct expression should be "我未食嘢" "我(I)未(not yet)食(eat)嘢(something/anything)")

Questions

Questions are not formed by changing the word order as in English. Sentence final particles and certain interrogative constructions are used instead.

Yes-no questions

There are two ways to form a yes-no questions. One way is by the use of final particle and/or intonation alone. The question particle 呀 a4 indicates surprise or disapproval. It tends to presuppose a positive answer.

• 吓? 你下個禮拜放假呀? Haa2? Nei5 haa6 go3 lai5baai3 fong3gaa3 a4? Translation: You are going on leave next week? (The questioner possibly doesn't know that you'll go on leave before, or doesn't agree that "you" go on leave.)

The particle 咩 me1 is exclusively interrogative, indicating surprise and used to check the truth of an unexpected state of affairs.

• 乜你唔知嘅咩? Mat1 nei5 m4zi1 ge3 me1? Translation: (You mean) you don't know?

A question may be indicated by a high rising intonation alone at the end of a question. (This intonation can be considered a nonsyllablic final particle indicating a question.) This intonation pattern usually modifies or exaggerates the basic tone of the last syllable. This type of question is used especially for echo, where the questioner repeats a statement out of surprise.

• 「我唔見咗條鎖匙」「咩話?你唔見咗條鎖匙?」 ("I lost the key." "What? You lost the key?") (The last syllable of 鎖匙 so2si4 is pronounced longer, first finishing the low falling tone, then rising at the end like the high rising tone.)

The other way to form yes-no questions uses a special construction in which the head of the predicate, say X, is replaced by X-not-X. Final particles may be used in addition.

• For example

  	你	識	講	廣東話.	-->	你	識唔識	講	廣東話?
  Transcription:	nei5	sik1	gong2	Gwong2dung1waa2		nei5	sik1 m4-sik1	gong2	Gwong2dung1waa2
  Gloss:	you	know	speak	Cantonese		you	know not-know	speak	Cantonese
  Translation:	You know how to speak Cantonese.					Do you know know to speak Cantonese?

• As the negative form of 有 is 冇, the corresponding yes-no question uses the form 有冇:

  	有	紅綠燈.	-->	有冇	紅綠燈?
  Transcription:	jau5	hung4luk6dang1	->	jau5mou5	hung4luk6dang1
  Gloss:	have	red-green-light		have not-have	red-green-light
  Translation:	There is a traffic light.			Is there a traffic light?

• As for 係 hai6 ("to be"), the yes-no question often uses the contraction 係咪 hai6 mai6 (note that 咪 mai6 is not the prohibitive 咪 mai2) instead of 係唔係.

  	佢	係	加拿大人.	-->	佢	係咪	加拿大人?
  Transcription:	keoi5	hai6	ga1na4dai6-jan4		keoi5	hai6-mai6	ga1na4dai6-jan4
  Gloss:	(s)he	is	Canada-man		(s)he	is isn't	Canada-man
  Translation:	(S)he is a Canadian.				Is (s)he a Canadian?

• With multisyllable verbs, only the first syllable is repeated:

  	你	鍾意	年糕.	-->	你	鍾唔鍾意	年糕?
  Transcription:	nei5	zung1ji3	nin4gou1		nei5	zung1-m4-zung1ji3	nin4gou1
  Gloss:	you	like	year-cake		you	like not-like	year-cake
  Translation:	You like new-year cake.				Do you like new-year cake?

• A special case is when a question asking whether something has occurred is formed. In a negative sentence, the adverb 未 mei6 should precede the verb to indicate that the event has not yet occurred. In yes-no questions, however, 未 appears at the end of the question (but before the final particle, if exists):

  	你	去過	德國.	-->	你	去過	德國	未?	(the word 去過 after 未 is omitted to avoid repetition.)
  Transcription:	nei5	heoi3gwo3	Dak1gwok3		nei5	heoi3gwo3	Dak1gwok3	mei6*2	(tone changes to indicate a question.)
  Gloss:	you	go-EXPR	Germany		you	go-EXPR	Garmany	not-yet
  Translation:	You have ever been to Germany.				Have you ever been to Germany?

This form of yes-no questions looks less similar to the "X-not-X" type, but it is still considered in this type, because the "X" after "not" is omitted. For example, the example question above can be expanded as 你去過德國未去過?.

A syntax of yes-no question in the form "X-not-X" is actually a contraction of a combination of syntax of an affirmative sentence and the syntax of a negative sentence.

Interrogative Words

• The interrogative words are as follows:

Interrogative	Pronunciation	English equivalent
邊個	bin1 go3	who
乜(嘢) / 咩	mat1 (je5) / me1	what
邊度 / 邊處	bin1 dou6 / bin1 syu3	where
幾時	gei2 si4	when
點解	dim2 gaai2	why
點(樣)	dim2 (joeng6*2)	How
幾多	gei2 do1	How many/much

Questions use exactly the same word order as in statements. For example: 你係邊個? (who are you?, literally "you are who"), 你幾時去個度見邊個呀? (when did you go there and who did you meet?, literally "you when go there meet who")

Demonstratives

The proximal demonstrative ("this"), is 呢 ni1 / nei1, or more frequently in fast speech, 依 ji1 (+ measure word). For example:

呢本書 ni1/nei1 bun2 syu1 "this book"

依本書 ji1 bun2 syu1 "this book"

The distal demonstrative ("that") is 嗰 go2. For example:

嗰本書 go2 bun2 syu1 "that book"

Between the demonstrative and its noun, a certain word to link them must be used, whether the particle 嘅 ge3 or a corresponding classifier for the noun for singular count nouns (嘅 ge3 being more formal than using a classifier); or 啲 di1 for plural count nouns and mass nouns:

呢嘅車 ni1/nei1 gaa3 ce1 or 呢架車 ni1/nei1 gaa3 ce1 "this car"

呢啲車 ni1/nei1 di1 ce1 "these cars"

嗰啲水 go2 di1 seoi2 "that water"

Possessives

• For singular nouns, the word 嘅 ge3 is roughly equivalent to English " 's":

爸爸嘅屋企 father's house

• Plural nouns take 啲 di1:

你啲動物 your animals

N.B.: 啲 is a very versatile word in Cantonese, besides pluralizing certain phrases, it can also mean "a little/few", e.g. 一啲 jat1 di1 (a little), or 早啲 earlier (literally: early + (intensifier)).

• Possessive pronouns (i.e. "mine", "his", "hers") are formed by adding 嘅 after the pronoun.

係佢嘅呀! It's his!
(呀 aa3 is a particle used to end affirmative statements)

However, in the case where there's an implied plural noun, one does not say:

*係佢啲呀! It's his!'.

For example:

呢啲書係邊個嘅呀？ (Whose books are these?)

係佢嘅呀! (It's his! [referring to his books])

嘅呀 ge3 aa3 is usually shortened in speech into one syllable, 嘎/㗎 gaa3.

• One could also say:

係佢啲書呀！ (It's his books!)

Both of these are generic possessives.

Differences from Mandarin Grammar

The following Cantonese grammatical points are not found in Mandarin Chinese.

Word order

• The direct object precedes the indirect object when using the verb 畀 bei2 "to give".

畀嗰本書我 bei2 go2 bun2 syu1 ngo5 "Give me that book."

Classifiers

• For specific objects, classifiers can be used instead of the possessive 嘅 to indicate possession:

佢本書 his book (本 is the classifier)

• Classifiers in Cantonese can also serve as article
  Article (grammar)
  An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the and a/an, and some...
  
  s.

本書唔見咗 The book is lost.

• A classifier alone can serve as an object without the numeral 一(one) before it, even when there is no noun to follow.

啲手表好靚，買(一)隻喇 The watches are very good. Buy one.

Comparison

• Comparison in Cantonese is formed by adding the marker 過 gwo3 after an adjective. The adjective-marker construction serves as a transitive verb which takes the standard of comparison as an object.

佢高過我 He is taller than me.

• In Standard Mandarin, the standard of comparison rather than the adjective is marked by adding 比 bǐ. The marker-standard serves as an adverbial. The sentence above is translated 他比我高 in Mandarin.

• Alternatively the classifier 啲 di1 alone (without the numeral 一) can be used use as the sole complement of the verbal adjective.

佢高啲 He is taller.