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How Cantonese packages meaning
Cantonese grammar at a glance
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Common questions about Cantonese
How is Cantonese different from Mandarin?
Cantonese and Mandarin aren't mutually intelligible despite sharing Chinese roots and (mostly) the same script. Cantonese has 6 tones to Mandarin's 4, completely different aspect particles (咗 vs 了, 緊 vs 在), pronouns (我哋 vs 我们), and a habitual aspect 開 that Mandarin lacks. Cantonese also preserves Middle Chinese final consonants (-p, -t, -k) that Mandarin dropped.
What does 開 (hoi1) mark on a verb?
開 marks habitual aspect — an action that the subject does regularly or has continued doing. '佢做開' (keoi5 zou6 hoi1) means 'he's been doing it [as a habit]'. Mandarin has no direct equivalent and would need adverbs like 平時 (usually) or 一直 (continuously) to convey the same meaning. The marker is one of several aspect distinctions Cantonese makes that Mandarin merges.
How many tones does Cantonese have?
Six tones in standard Hong Kong Cantonese (down from nine in older descriptions, after the merging of three checked tones into the high series). The tones are conventionally numbered 1-6: high level, high rising, mid level, low falling, low rising, low level. Same syllable with different tones: si1 (poem), si2 (history), si3 (try), si4 (time), si5 (city), si6 (matter). Tone is part of every syllable's identity.
Can Cantonese speakers read Mandarin?
Most Cantonese speakers learn to read Standard Written Chinese, which is based on Mandarin grammar and vocabulary. Reading is largely transparent because the writing system is logographic. But Cantonese has its own colloquial written form using characters like 嘅 (possessive, parallels Mandarin 的), 啦, 喎, and 冇 ('no/not have', no Mandarin equivalent). Educated Cantonese speakers code-switch.
How does a bare classifier mean 'the' in Cantonese?
Cantonese can drop the demonstrative or numeral and leave just the classifier + noun: 本書 (bun2 syu1, 'CL-book') means 'the book' (specific, definite). 一本書 (one CL book) means 'a book'; 啲書 (some books) is plural. Mandarin requires the demonstrative or number — bare 本書 isn't grammatical there. The bare-classifier definite construction is one of Cantonese's distinctive innovations.
Sources for Cantonese
The grammatical descriptions on this page are informed by the following published reference and descriptive grammars. Grammatical facts themselves are not subject to copyright; the scholars who documented them deserve attribution.
- Matthews, Stephen & Yip, Virginia (2011). Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar, 2nd ed. Routledge (542 pp.). — THE definitive reference grammar; cross-referenced as "CRG" throughout Alderete et al. 2017. [via static/grammar-library/yue/matthews-yip-2011-cantonese-grammar.pdf]