16 August 2012

To look for; to lead to

wán - to look for.  Example: néih wán bīn go a? (who are you looking for? lit. you look for who?)

sih - matter, business, affair. Example: yáuh māt yéh sih a? (for what purpose? lit. have what thing purpose?)

daaito lead.  Example: ngóh daai léih heui X (I’ll lead you to place X; lit. I lead you go to X)

mī yeh?  - another way of pronouncing māt yéh?

ge – shows possesive.  Example ngóh ge chē (my car).  But it can be left out in cases of ‘close personal relationship’ (according to the book I’m reading), and only if the relationship term has more than 2 syllables.  Example ngóh ge taai táai (my wife), can be said as ngóh taai táai.

mh gòithank you; excuse me.  This is the first Cantonese word I learned.  However, I never learned what the words actually meant. According to Baker & Ho, it means ‘ought not’

(Bookmark: page 16 of Baker & Ho)

No comments: