Cantonese Vocabulary
Verbs 4

The verbs section is arranged differently than the other vocabulary lessons on this site.  Instead of arranging words in terms of a theme, they will be arranged according to the type of object which they take.

[ Up ] [ Verbs 1 ] [ Verbs 2 ] [ Verbs 3 ] [ Verbs 4 ]

NP/S

The following verbs can take either a Noun Phrase or a Sentence as its object.  In some cases the sentences can be viewed as a NP direct object followed by a VP as an object complement.  If these verbs appear without an object in the sentence, an object must be understood from the context.  The first selection is the verb by itself or with a default object, the second and third are the verb and an NP object, and the fourth and fifth selections are the verb and a sentence object.

\bong\ joh

 help

幫助

 　

dang

 wait for

等

 　

/gam/ jeh

 thank

感謝

 　

gin

 see

見

 **

giu

 call

叫

 **

/gong/

 speak

講

 　

/lahm/

 think

諗

 def

mahn

 ask

問

 **

\mihng\ baahk

 understand

明白

 def

VP/NP/S

The following verbs can take Noun Phrases, Verb Phrases, or Sentences as their objects.  In some cases, the object the verb takes alters the meaning of the verb.  If these verbs appear without an object in the sentence, an object must be understood from the context.  The first selection is the verb by itself or with a default object, the second and third are the verb and an NP object, the fourth and fifth selections are the verb and a VP object, and the last two selections are the verb and a sentence object.

\jung\ yi

 like

鐘意

 **

yiu

 want/need

要

 **

None

Cantonese has a few verbs that are generally intransitive (do not take an object).  There are ways to give these verbs an object like most other Chinese verbs, but they do not need either explicit or understood objects to be grammatical in common speech.

fan gaau

 sleep

瞓

 "gaau" can be seen as the object of "fan", and there are grammar constructions where "fan" can be reduplicated and act as its own object

haam

 cry

喊

 as with fan fan gaau, haam can be reduplicated

jyuh

 reside

住

 jyuh can take a place as its object, though this is simply omitting the location marker /hai/

siu

 smile

笑

 siu can also mean "to laugh at" or "to mock", in which case it can take an NP, which is the object of mockery.

\yau\ -sik-

 take a break

休息

 this verb can take a time period as an object

Notes

IO- This verb can take an Indirect Object
RC- Can take a resultative complement in place of an object
Def- The first choice in the box is the verb's default object

gin means "to see", not to watch.  It contrasts with the verb /tai/.

giu is a very versatile verb.  It is used to mean "to call" in the sense of "call something a name", "call out to someone", and also "call someone over".  It also is used to mean "tell someone or ask someone to do something".

mahn, when taking a sentence as an object, always takes an interrogative (question) sentence.

\jung\ yi can mean to "prefer" as well as "to like".  It is often combined with /bei/ gaau when it has the meaning of "preference".

yiu can often be ambiguous.  It can mean "to want", "to need", "to require".  At times it is ambiguous.  The default meaning should be "to need" since there are unambiguous ways of expressing the other meanings.

 Up | Verbs 1 | Verbs 2 | Verbs 3 | Verbs 4

Home        Friends Service          Bookstore
© copyright 2002-2006 all rights reserved

Google