Yair
Some Cantonese questions Dear friends, The following are a few questions from my Cantonese lesson today… If you have any spare time, it would really help me if you could answer them… Thanks a lot in advance! 1. 喺廣州條何叫做乜嘢名 how should I interpret this construction grammatically? 2. hoy1 cing4 to start, to begin to move (of vehicles) The first character is clearly 開, but what is the second one? 3. 放 vs. 放落 should I interpret the difference as “to put” vs. “to put down”? 4. 擠啲書喺書櫃 擠啲書書櫃 放啲書喺書櫃 放啲書書櫃 a. which of these sentences are correct? b. are they all identical in meaning? 5. 擠啲襪喺櫃桶 擠啲襪櫃桶 放啲襪喺櫃桶 放啲襪櫃桶 a. which of these sentences are correct? b. are they all identical in meaning? 6. 做工 in Mandarin this verb has a connotation of doing “manual work”. My Cantonese dictionary simply says “to do work”. Does it have a similar connotation of “manual work” in Cantonese? Thanks!
Feb 18, 2017 2:14 AM
Answers · 3
1. 何 here should be 河(river). 喺廣州 In Guangzhou (called Canton in the past) 條河 the river 叫做 is called 乜嘢 what 名 name In Cantonese, the adjective phrase/clause comes before the noun. Therefore, 喺廣州條河 means the river In Guangzhou. The whole sentence is: "What is the river in Guangzhou called?", or "What is the name of the river in Guangzhou?" 叫做乜嘢名 would seem clumsy if translated word for word in English, but that's one way to ask about the name of somebody/something.
February 19, 2017
4. 擠啲書喺書櫃 √ 放啲書喺書櫃 √ the same meaning.. I think this expression is ok 擠啲書書櫃 × 放啲書書櫃 × maybe→ 擠啲書入書櫃 or 擠啲書喺書櫃 5. 擠啲襪喺櫃桶 √ is ok 擠啲襪櫃桶 ×··· 放啲襪喺櫃桶 √ is ok 放啲襪櫃桶×... Ditto
February 28, 2017
2. No idea about cing4. It must be 開車 if it means to drive off. 3, 4, 5. Both 擠 and 放 (and also 擺) mean to place something. To indicate where to put something, the phrase structure is 擠/放/擺 something 喺/上/落/出/入somewhere. 上 and 落 suggest that the final place is respectively in a higher and lower position. 出 and 入 means outside and inside respectively. Examples 放手機喺檯面 放手機上櫃頂 放手機落梳化 放手機出窗外 放手機入手袋
February 19, 2017
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