PART: particle
Definition
Particles are function words that must be associated with another word, phrase, or clause to impart meaning and that do not satisfy definitions of other universal parts of speech (such as ADP, AUX, CCONJ, or SCONJ).
In Cantonese, particles include the genitive/associative/relativizer/nominalizer marker 嘅 / ge3; 得 / dak1 and 到 / dou3 in V-得/到 extent/descriptive constructions (see compound:ext); the manner adverbializer 噉 / gam2; the “et cetera” marker 等(等) / dang2(dang2); sentence-final particles; the quantifiers 埋 / maai4 and 晒 / saai3; the adversative 親 / can1; and so on.
Examples
- Genitive 的
- 狗 嘅 尾巴 ／ gau2 ge3 mei4baa1 “a dog’s tail”
- Associative 的
- 開心 嘅 小朋友 / hoi1sam1 ge3 sai3lou6zai2 “happy children”
- Relativizer 的
- 跴 單車 嘅 人 ／ yaai2 daan1ce1 ge1 jan4 “people who bike”
- Nominalizer 的
- 食 唔 晒 嘅 唔 准 走 ／ sik3 m5 saai3 ge3 m4 zeon2 zau2 “those who don’t finish eating aren’t allowed to go”
- Extent/descriptive 得到
- 佢 跑 得 好 快 ／keoi5 pao2 dak1 hou2 faai3 “He runs very fast.”
- 佢 跑 到 出 晒 汗 ／keoi5 pao2 dou3 ceot1 saai3 hon6 “He ran himself soaked in sweat.”
- Adverbializer 地
- 佢 慢慢 噉 跑 ／ keoi5 maan6maan6*2 gam2 pao2 “He’s running slowly.”
- Etc. marker
- 呢度 有 梨，橙，等等 ／ ni1dou6 jau5 lei2, caang2, dang2dang2 “There are pears, oranges, etc. here.”
- Sentence-final particles
- 你 想 去 呀 ？ ／ nei5 soeng2 heoi3 aa4 “Do you want to go?”
- 我哋 一齊 去 喇 ／ ngo5dei6 jat1cai4 heoi3 laa1 “Let’s go together.”
- 佢 一 個 人 啫 ／ keoi5 jat1 go3 jan4 ze1 “It’s just him, one person.”
- 佢哋 一定 嚟 嘅 ／ keoi5dei6 jat1ding6 lei4 ge3 “They will definitely come.”
- Quantifiers
- 畀 埋 我 / bei2 maai4 ngo5 “Give me that as well.”
- 佢哋 走 晒 / keoi5dei6 zau2 saai3 “They all left.”
- Adversative 親
- 佢 跌 親 / keoi5 dit3 can1 “He fell.”
PART in other languages: [bej] [bg] [bm] [cs] [cy] [da] [el] [en] [ess] [et] [fi] [fr] [ga] [grc] [hu] [hy] [it] [ja] [ka] [kpv] [myv] [no] [pcm] [pt] [qpm] [ru] [sl] [sv] [tr] [tt] [uk] [u] [urj] [xcl] [yue] [zh]