Lessons for English speakers

Learn to read Cantonese

A short, active path into reading Cantonese: see how a character is built out of a meaning half and a sound half, learn the sixty characters a fable runs on, meet the grammar words 係唔嘅咗 that mark written Cantonese out from Mandarin, and read a short story before opening your first book.

13 core sections · ≈ 34 min + 3 optional lookups · ≈ 43 min with everything

嘅, and the counting word between “this” and a noun

≈ 3 min

What you'll learn

嘅ge3 hangs off anything and makes it own the next word: “my”, “the cat’s”.
A describing word takes no “is”: 狗好大gau2 hou2 daai6 is a whole sentence.
Pointing at a noun needs a counting word in between: this-ONE-dog, that-ONE-tree.

Two pieces of glue do enormous work, and both sit between two words. The first is 嘅ge3: put it after anything and that thing owns whatever comes next.

Hang 嘅 off anything

我ngo5“I”

我嘅屋企ngo5 ge3 uk1 kei2“my home”

one word doing “my”, “his” and “’s” at once

好大hou2 daai6“very big”

好大嘅樹hou2 daai6 ge3 syu6“a very big tree”

the same glue hooks a description onto a noun

嗰隻狗go2 zek3 gau2“that dog” 好大hou2 daai6“is very big”.

嗰隻狗好大。

go2 zek3 gau2 hou2 daai6.

There is no word for “is” in that sentence. A describing word acts as its own verb, and 好hou2 in front means “very”.

The second has no English equivalent. You cannot say “this dog” — you say this ONE-OF dog, with a counting word chosen by what sort of thing the noun is. English does it for two slices of bread; Cantonese does it for everything.

Five counting words

Counting word	Used for	Example
個go3	people, and anything unplaceable	三個人saam1 go3 jan4“three people”
隻zek3	animals	兩隻貓loeng5 zek3 maau1“two cats”
本bun2	books	呢本書ni1 bun2 syu1“this book”
棵po1	trees and plants	一棵樹jat1 po1 syu6“one tree”
條tiu4	long thin things: roads, fish	嗰條路go2 tiu4 lou6“that road”

There are dozens more; reach for 個go3 when unsure, as adult speakers do. And note 兩loeng5“two” rather than 二ji6 whenever a number counts things.

Two is not enough: this · counting word · noun

呢ni1“this”

呢隻狗ni1 zek3 gau2“this dog”

an animal, so 隻zek3

嗰go2“that”

嗰棵樹go2 po1 syu6“that tree”

a tree, so 棵po1. “That” and the counting word 個go3 are near-twins

Glue and counting words

嗰隻貓好細。
Look for the missing “is”.
Show answer +Hide answer −
go2 zek3 maau1 hou2 sai3 — “That cat is very small.”
Why is 呢狗 impossible?
Show answer +Hide answer −
“This” cannot touch a noun; it needs a counting word: 呢隻狗ni1 zek3 gau2“this dog”.
好大嘅山
Show answer +Hide answer −
hou2 daai6 ge3 saan1 — “a very big mountain”.