Cantonese Grammar Lesson 2
"To Be"- Equative

New Vocabulary

Function words

haih

is

\mh\

not

 

Nouns

\yahn\

person

 

 \syu\

book

\che\

 car

 /louh/ \si\

 teacher

老師

/pahng/ yauh

 friend

朋友

 hohk \saang\

 student

學生

The Equating Verb "haih"

Cantonese

 

English

 haih

pronoun=noun  

 haih

noun=noun

 \mh\ haih

pronoun!=noun  

 \mh\ haih 

noun!=noun

*Note: The phrase "you are not a person" is equivalent to saying "you are inhuman"

Grammar Description

English vs. Cantonese Linking Verbs

English uses the format NOUN + "to be" + NOUN to equate a subject and another noun (predicate nominative).  Examples:

He is a person.

They are friends.

I am his brother.

It is a car.

The exact same format is used to link nouns and adjectives (predicate adjective) in English: NOUN + "to be" + ADJECTIVE.  Examples:

He is tall.

They are friendly.

I am happy.

It is good.

Cantonese uses one verb to link nouns to nouns (haih), but does not use a verb to link nouns to adjectives.  Instead, the adjectives act as verbs.  The pattern given in this lesson is only used to link a noun to another noun.  The pattern for linking a noun to an adjective is given in the next grammar lesson.

The Negative \mh\

To form the negative of most sentences the prefix \mh\ is added before the verb or adjective being negated.

I

 

am

a student.

/ngoh/ 

 

haih

hohk \saang\

 

not

am

a student

/ngoh/

\mh\

haih  

hohk \saang\.

Subject Verb Agreement

In Cantonese, subjects and verbs automatically agree.  They do not need to be adjusted for first person, second person, third person, or singular/plural considerations.  English has "am, are, is" plus different forms for each tense.  Cantonese uses "haih" for all cases.


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