Cantonese Skills Lesson 8
Comparison & Contrast

There are several ways of comparing and contrasting things in Cantonese.  This is often done using pairs of opposite descriptors, such as fast and slow, and by comparing two objects in terms of a quality.  Below are some of the most common ways to compare two things in Cantonese.  You may wish to spend some time on this lesson.

Comparing/Contrasting Two Objects

Using 比

This form is used commonly in both written Chinese and oral Cantonese.  It has the advantage of transferring to other dialects, unlike most of the other ways of creating a comparison.  The pattern is:

A /bei/ B ADJ
A is more ADJ than B.

Generally, you will use the positive version of an adjective in this form (example \hoi\ \sam\ rather than \mh\ \hoi\ \sam\).

Using 過

This form is colloquial only.  It functions much like the English suffix "-er" (although strictly speaking, gwo is not a suffix).  The pattern is:

A ADJ gwo B
A is ADJer than B.

Note that gwo often means "to pass through".  In the case of comparisons, it can be seen as meaning "to surpass" or "go beyond".

Using 有/冇+咁

This form is used to either compare or contrast two items, depending on the choice of /yauh/ or /mouh/.  If the positive /yauh/ is used, then the form is used to be comparative, while the opposite is true of /mouh/.  The equivalent form in written Chinese is 有/沒有 + 那麼.

This form evaluates one object for a quality in terms of that quality in another object.  The pattern is:

/yauh/ used in comparison means that the one object has at least enough of a quality to be equal to another object in that quality.  The object in question may be greater, but it is at least sufficient.

/mouh/ used in comparison means that one object lacks sufficient amounts of a quality to be equal to another object in that quality.

/gam/ functions like "as" in these patterns, though it usually means "so" or "that much"

Using 唔狗

This form is used in the same way as /mouh/ /gam/ is used.  It evaluates one object for a quality by stating that it does not possess as much of that quality as a second object.  The form is:

A \mh\ gau B ADJ
A is not equal to B in ADJ.

Note that \mh\ gau literally means "to be not enough".  For the sake of this pattern you can think of it as "A is not enough ADJ to be equal to B".

Using 好似/好似+咁

/hou/ /chih/ simply states that two things are alike.  When when combined with /gam/ it specifies in what way they are alike.  This is the equivalent to the use of "like" or "as" in English to denote a simile.  The pattern is:

Note that -di- is the plural measure word.  But when applied to an adjective, it means "more".