Chapter 9 of 16 · Explore the Cantonese path
Words · Chapter 9 of 16
The words a fable is made of
Fewer than thirty words carry almost every sentence in a short animal story: the creatures and places, the describing words, and the six joining words that hold a paragraph together.
≈ 4 min of reading · Practise at your own pace
What’s in this chapter
- Fewer than thirty words carry almost every sentence in a short animal story.
- Cantonese says 細
sai3 for “small”, not the Mandarin word, and 屋企 uk1 kei2 for “home”. - 仔
zai2 on the end of a word makes it small: 雀仔 zoek3 zai2 is the everyday word for a bird. - 阿
aa3 in front of a name is the friendly form — the three animals in the closing stories are named that way. - Six joining words hold a paragraph together: and, also, but, because, then, now.
The animals and places in the stories
These are the creatures, places and weather the closing stories are built out of. Meet them now so a noun does not stop you mid line.
- 貓catmaau1一隻貓jat1 zek3 maau1“a cat”
- 狗doggau2兩隻狗loeng5 zek3 gau2“two dogs”
- 雀仔birdzoek3 zai2仔 zai2 is a “little one” ending — 男仔 is a boy, 貓仔 a kitten.
- 朋友friendpang4 jau5
- 屋企homeuk1 kei2Literally “house” plus “stand” — the Cantonese word, where Mandarin says 家.
- 樹treesyu6嗰棵樹go2 po1 syu6“that tree”
- 山hill, mountainsaan1山上saan1 soeng6“on the hill”
- 路roadlou6路上lou6 soeng6“on the road”
- 風windfung1好大風hou2 daai6 fung1“very windy”
- 名namemeng2佢嘅名keoi5 ge3 meng2“his name”
- 嘢thingje5食嘢sik6 je5“eat something”
- 上on top of; abovesoeng6A line with a mark above it. Its opposite 下 haa6 is the same line with the mark below.
Every one of these turns up in the two closing stories, or in the sentences that lead into them.
Describing words, and the ones Cantonese does differently
A describing word acts as its own verb in Cantonese, so a sentence built on one needs no other verb at all.
- 大bigdaai6
- 細smallsai3Cantonese uses this where Mandarin uses 小 — a swap worth remembering, because 小 still turns up inside longer words.
- 好good; veryhou2好朋友hou2 pang4 jau5“a good friend”
- 靚pretty, good-lookingleng3
- 開心happyhoi1 sam1Literally “open heart”.
- 攰tiredgui6
- 多many, muchdo1It is also the 多 of 多謝 do1 ze6 “thank you” — literally “many thanks”.好多水hou2 do1 seoi2“a lot of water”
These need no “is” in front of them, and 好
The words that hold a paragraph together
These link one sentence to the next: a reason, a contrast, or the next thing that happened.
| Cantonese | How it is used |
|---|---|
| 同 | joins two nouns, and is “together with” in front of a person |
| 都 | goes before the verb, never at the end |
| 但係 | starts the next sentence |
| 因為 | starts the reason, as in English |
| 然後 | starts the next thing that happened |
| 而家 | sits before the verb |
A Cantonese paragraph tends to be a row of short sentences, each starting fresh, rather than clauses chained with “and”.
The three animals in the closing stories
A cat, a dog and a bird carry the two stories that close the path. Their names all start the same way, so learn the shape now.
| Name | Who | What the character means alone |
|---|---|---|
| 阿福 | a small cat | good fortune |
| 阿黑 | a dog | black |
| 阿寶 | a bird | treasure |
阿
Recall before you read
- 細
The Cantonese one, not the Mandarin one.
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細sai3 “small” - 屋企
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屋企uk1 kei2 “home” - 雀仔
The ending makes it small and friendly.
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雀仔zoek3 zai2 “bird”