Learn how to use Cantonese adjectives
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| nei5 ho2, ngo5 hai6 Olivia. Hi everybody! I’m Olivia. |
| Welcome to CantoneseClass101.com’s “saam1 fan1 zung1 gwong2 dung1 waa2”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Cantonese. |
| In the last lesson, we learned how to use the verb jau5, "to have," and its negative version. |
| In this and the next lesson, we will learn about Cantonese adjectives and how to use them properly. |
| So, to use Cantonese adjectives, you must first know the word hou2, it literally means “very much” as an adverb, or “good” when used as an adjective. But for this lesson’s theme, hou2 is the default adverb for adjectives. |
| Here are some examples: |
| ngo5 hou2 hoi1 sum1 → “I’m happy”/”I’m very happy” |
| keoi5 hou2 leng3 → “She’s beautiful”/”She’s very beautiful” |
| gin3 saam1 hou2 pen4 → “the shirt is cheap”/”the shirt is very cheap” |
| Other than hou2, we can also use the word gei2 in front of adjectives, it is similar to the “pretty” in “pretty good” |
| Let’s see the same example with gei2: |
| ngo5 gei2 hoi1 sum1 → “I’m pretty happy” |
| keoi5 gei2 leng3 → “she’s pretty beautiful” |
| gin3 saam1 gei2 pen4 → “the shirt is pretty cheap” |
| Here are a few more Cantonese adjectives and sample sentences: |
| jit6 “hot temperture” |
| gam1 jat6 hou2 jit6 “it’s hot today”/”it’s very hot today” |
| gam1 jat6 gei2 jit6 “it’s pretty hot today” |
| dung3 “cold” |
| cam4 jat6 hou2 dung3 “it was cold yesterday”/”it was very cold yesterday” |
| cam4 jat6 gei dung3 “it was pretty cold yesterday” |
| Before we go, here is a short list of some of the most common adjectives in Cantonese! |
| daai6 “big” [repeat slowly] |
| sai3 “small” [repeat slowly] |
| gou1 “tall” [repeat slowly] |
| aai2 “short in height” [repeat slowly] |
| fei4 “fat” [repeat slowly] |
| sau3 “thin” [repeat slowly] |
| do1 “many” [repeat slowly] |
| siu2 ”few” [repeat slowly] |
| Let’s try to combine what we learn this lesson with the verb “to have” from last lesson: |
| To say “I have a lot of coins” would be |
| ngo5 jau5 “I have” |
| hou2 do1 “a lot of” |
| seoi3 ngan2 “coins” |
| Altogether, ngo5 jau5 hou2 do1 seoi3 ngan2. |
| Now it’s time for Olivia’s Insights. |
| If you want to exaggerate, just drag the hou2 word out really long, or use the word fei1 soeng4 before the adjectives. As in hoooou2 jit6 , or fei1 soeng4 jit6, which means "really hot", or hoooou2 leng3 , or fei1 soeng4 leng3, "really beautiful." |
| In this lesson, we learned how to properly use adjectives in Cantonese. |
| Next time we’ll learn how to combine them with nouns in order to describe the objects, so that you will be able to say sentences like "a beautiful girl.” |
| I’ll be waiting for you in the next “saam1 fan1 zung1 gwong2 dung1 waa2” lesson. |
| Haa6 ci3 gin3! |
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