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Nouns in Cantonese are used without
articles like the, a(n). When it is necessary to make a distinction
between a certain object and just any object in general, a combination
of numerals and counter suffixes is used.
| I want a book. | 我要一本書。 | ngo4 yiu4 yat1 bun2 syu1 |
| I want the book. | 我要個本書。 | ngo4 yiu4 go2 bun2 syu1 |
Nouns possess no grammatical gender or
numerical values. When necessary, 地 dei3 is added to nouns for animate
objects to express the meaning of plural value.
Cantonese verbs do not change their
forms as in English. While the English verb "to
be" takes the forms "am, are, is, was, were, been, being" the corresponding
Cantonese verb hai5 does not.
| 我係 | ngo5 hai5 | I am |
| 我地係 | ngo5 dei5 hai5 | We are |
| 佢係 | kui4 hai5 | She is |
Cantonese tense and modality are expressed by using special grammatical verbs -- quite a few of them do not exist in Mandarin, though some have quite close equivalents.
For example, there are 2 ways to express the sence of an action presently in progress, equivalent to the English Continuous (Progressive) Tense:
Both phrases below has
the meaning "He is waiting for you":
| 佢等緊你 。 | kui4 dang2 gan2 nei4 |
| 佢正在等你。 | kui4 jing3 joi4 dang2 nei4 |
Using
gan2 after the verb is the most idiomatic
Cantonese way to express the idea of a continuous action. jing3
joi4 stands for "in the course of, in progress"
and is used before verbs both in Mandarin and (only in formal writing)
Cantonese. The same phrase in Mandarin will sound like
| 他正(在)等你。 | ta1 zheng4 (zai4) deng3 ni3 |
The particles 左 zo2 and 過 gwo3 are used to form Past Tense. The former indicates a simple action in the past, while the latter adds the meaning of experience -- though the difference is quite blurred and often ignored in conversation.
佢黎左。Kui4 lai4 zo2. He came.
佢黎過。Kui4 lai4 gwo3. He has come [here before]. or He used to come [here before].
Words like 聽日 ting1 yat6 "tomorrow", 琴日 kam4 yat6 "yesterday", 已經 yi5 ging1 "already" are widely used in Cantonese in lieu of modal particles.
佢聽日去。 Kui4 ting1 yat6 hoey5. He will go tomorrow.
我已經 打電話俾佢。Ngo5 yi5 ging1 da2 din6 wa6 bei2 kui4. I have already called him.
琴日我六點鐘起身。kam4
yat6 ngo5 luk6 dim2 zung1 hei2 san1. Yesterday
I woke up at 6 o'clock.
Negative sentences, Yes/No
唔 m6
is used in front of a verb to give it the negative meaning. For
example:
| 我係美國人。 | ngo4 hai5 mei5 gwok3 yan4 | I am American. |
| 我唔係美國人。 | ngo4 m5 hai5 mei5 gwok3 yan4 | I am not American |
The same thing in Mandarin
would look like this:
| 我是美國人。 | wo3 shi4 mei3 guo2 ren2 | I am American |
| 我不是美國人。 | wo3 bu2 shi4 mei3 guo2 ren2 | I am not American |
"Yes" is indicated
by 係 hai5 and
"no" by 唔係 m6 hai5.
Consent can be expressed by 好 hou2
that means "OK", and "no good, it' won't do" -- 唔好
m6 hou2. The word 岩
ngaam1 means "correct, right", and
唔岩 m6 ngaam1
-- the opposite. Note that in a real conversation, the above phrases are
normally followed by the modal particle 呀 a1. Cantonese is very rich
in such particles.
| 係呀。 | hai5 a1 | Yes. |
| 唔係呀。 | m6 hai5 a1 | No. |
| 好呀。 | hou2 a1 | Ok. |
| 唔好呀。 | m6 hou2 a1 | That won't do. |
| 岩呀。 | ngaam2 a1 | Right. |
| 唔岩呀。 | m6 ngaam2 a1 | Wrong. |
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