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Questions tagged [cantonese]

The Chinese language spoken in and around Guangzhou city (formerly Canton), Hong Kong, and central and western Guangdong province.

The Chinese dialect spoken in and around Guangzhou city (formerly Canton), and central and western Guangdong province. Because many overseas Chinese originated from this area, Cantonese is more common among overseas communities than it is among the general Chinese population. This is particularly true of those who emigrated in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

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Zhong Shan Suit Inner Shirt Cantonese Name

I would like to ask the Cantonese speakers about the 中山裝. As we know, 中山裝 is similar to the western suit, 西裝, it is designed with the jacket (外套) and the inner shirt (長袖衫). However, my friends told me that the "長袖衫" is called 底 (pronounced as 桶底…
Jacky X.
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Why don't Cantonese speakers write their own language?

For me the most difficult thing about learning Cantonese has been that there are very few learning materials for foreigners (and I assume even for Chinese people). And even the materials that exist are all only regarding basic conversational topics.…
oceanus
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Difference between alveolars and alveolo-palatals in Cantonese

I would like to understand the difference in distribution between the alveolar consonants s, ts, tsʰ and the alveolo-palatal consonants ɕ, tɕ, tɕʰ in Cantonese. One source told me that the postalveolars are only used before i, y, and œ and alveolars…
HAL
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In Cantonese, what is the difference between 到/倒 , 得 and 可以 as verb complement

I'm taking Cantonese classes and am increasingly confused about the difference between 到/倒 , 得 and 可以. They all have a vague meaning of possibility/ability/permission to some degree, with 可以 used to ask permission, 得 for permission and possibility,…
Raph
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In Cantonese, what does 多到 (do1 dou3) mean?

In Cantonese, what does 多到 (do1 dou3) mean in this context? 你可以想像罪案多到幾咁嚴重嘞! nei5 ho2-ji5 soeng2-zoeng6 zeoi6-on3 do1 dou3 gei2-gam3 jim4-zung6 laak3! My guess is that the sentence translates to something like this: You can imagine the criminal…
Mike M. Lin
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Can someone explain what the 其 in 順其自然 means?

The phrase 順其自然 means trust nature to take its course in Cantonese, and every character makes sense except for 其. Can someone explain its meaning in the phrase? Thanks!
Crashalot
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What are the Chinese characters for Cantonese 'tìm ge la wo'?

Source: What Language Is (2011), p. 127 Bottom What are the Chinese characters for the four bolded particles beneath? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8C I didn't transcribe the quote, as StackExchange's formatting can't let me replicate the…
user11787
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Are Cantonese and Lao related?

I have a friend who is Lao and I've noticed that a lot of the same words in Lao and Cantonese sound the same. The grammar itself seem different, but the numbers are similar. Is there much relationship between the Lao and Cantonese language?
Chits
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Function of「果」in (folk, written) Cantonese?

I've started going through《男人唔可以窮》. In Chapter 1 there is the following paragraph: 阿爸佢教我好多野，放假會同我去睇精工對南華，去彭福公園睇人放風箏，直到我十六歲果年，有一日醫院打黎，話老豆於行動中，由四樓跌左落一個天井度，送去醫院果時，左腳腳底仲係插住一支八吋既生鐵釘。 I'm quite confused by the usage of「果」in these two instances…
Mou某
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What Cantonese verb was spoken on what boyfriends 港女 pick? Sounds like 打鍋?

Context is Maria Cordero asking Lisa Tse Lisa's criteria for picking boyfriends. At 29:26, young female reporter in all black strap dress says something like 打鍋. I don't think this is 鍋. What's second character? Maria Cordero repeats 打鍋 at 29:30…
user11787
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Is the Cantonese spoken in Guangzhou standardized?

Is the Cantonese spoken in Guangzhou standardized, and if it is, is it different from Hong Kong and Macau's standard Cantonese? Do some characters have different standard readings in each region, much like how some characters have different standard…
wang_xiao_ming
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Character for dice in Cantonese

From the dictionary, it seems that the word for "dice" in Mandarin is either "骰子", pronounced "tóu zi", or "色子", pronounced "shǎi zi". In Cantonese, the character for dice is pronounced "sik1" (Jyutping), and apparently written "骰", according to the…
user102008
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Cantonese and Thai similarities

Is there a similarity between Cantonese and Thai? I've noticed that some words such as the word for chicken is the same.
Jack Maddington
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What is "seoi zi" for 好玩?

Watching《金玉滿堂》recently where a character said something on the lines of: seoi m seoi zi? If I were to hazard a guess I would think it would be written something like: 衰唔衰志？The Mandarin subtitles gave the translation: 好不好玩？ I was unable to find…
Mou某
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What's the word ma(i) in 喺mai一齊 in Cantonese?

I always catch a syllable sounds like mai between 喺 and 一齊. I could get the exact syllable wrong but it should sound similar. The whole thing means 在一起, and 喺 means 在, 一齊 is 一起. So 1) what's the meaning or function of mai? 2) Is it necessary or…
lilysirius
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