8 THE VERB PHRASE
8.1 TYPES OF VERB
8.1.1 THE VERB HAIH ‘BE’
| 嗰 | 啲 | 人 | 係 | 我 | 嘅 | 朋友 |
| Gó | dī | yàhn | haih | ngóh | ge | pàhngyáuh |
| that | CL | people | are | my | LP | friend |
| ‘Those people are my friends.’ |
8.1.2 STATIVE VERBS
| 我 | 好 | 熟 | 佢 | 屋企人 |
| Ngóh | hóu | suhk | kéuih | ūkkéi-yàhn |
| I | very | familiar | his | home-people |
| ‘I know his family very well.’ |
8.1.3 VERBS OF PERCEPTION
| 咁 | 遠， | 你 | 睇唔睇 | 得 | 見 | 呀? |
| Gam | yúhn | léih | tái-m̀h-tái | dāk | gin | a? |
| so | far | you | look-not-look | can | see | SFP |
| ‘Can you see so far away?’ |
8.1.4 VERBS OF COGNITION
| 我 | 覺得 | 你 | 應該 | 小心 | 啲 |
| Ngóh | gokdāk | léih | yīnggōi | síusām | dī |
| I | feel | you | should | careful | little |
| ‘I think you ought to be more careful.’ |
8.2 OBJECTS OF THE VERB AND TRANSITIVITY
8.2.1 DIRECT AND DIRECTIONAL OBJECTS
| 瞓 | 自己 | 張 | 床 | 舒服 | 啲 |
| Fan | jihgéi | jēung | chòhng | syūfuhk | dī |
| sleep | self | CL | bed | comfortable | more |
| ‘It’s more comfortable to sleep in one’s own bed.’ |
8.2.2 DOUBLE OBJECT VERBS AND INDIRECT OBJECTS
| 我 | 細佬 | 寄咗 | 封 | 信 | 俾 | 我 |
| Ngóh | sailóu | gei-jó | fūng | seun | béi | ngóh |
| my | brother | mail-PFV | CL | letter | to | me |
| ‘My brother mailed me a letter.’ |
Grammaticality improves with distance with two tokens of 俾 béi:
[ béi ‘give’ + [Direct Object] + béi ‘to’ + [Indirect Object] ]
8.2.3 QUANTIFIED OBJECTS
| 我哋 | 成 | 條 | (魚) | 食 | 晒 |
| Ngóhdeih | sèhng | tìuh | (yú) | sihk | saai |
| we | whole | CL | (fish) | eat | PRT |
| ‘We’ve eaten the whole fish.’ |
8.2.4 VERB–OBJECT COMPOUNDS
| 我哋 | 揸車 | 去 | 尖 | 東 |
| Ngóhdeih | jā-chē | heui | Jīm | Dūng |
| we | drive-car | go | Tsimshatsui | East |
| ‘We’ll drive to Tsimshatsui East.’ |
8.2.5 ADVERBIAL OBJECTS
| 我 | 洗 | 呢 | 件 | 衫 | 洗咗 | 兩 | 次 |
| Ngóh | sái | lī | gihn | sāam | sái-jó | léuhng | chi |
| I | wash | this | CL | shirt | wash-PFV | two | times |
| ‘I’ve washed this shirt twice.’ |
8.3 SERIAL VERBS
8.3.1 DIRECTIONAL VERBS AND VERBS OF MOTION
| 我 | 五 | 分鐘 | 後 | 就 | 返 | 到 | 嚟 |
| Ngóh | nǵh | fānjūng | hauh | jauh | fāan | dou | làih |
| I | five | minutes | after | then | back | arrive | come |
| ‘I’ll be back in five minutes.’ |
8.3.2 SERIAL CONSTRUCTIONS EXPRESSING ACTIONS
| 你 | 搵 | 啲 | 嘢 | 冚住 | 佢 | 吖 |
| Léih | wán | dī | yéh | kám-jyuh | kéuih | ā |
| you | find | CL | thing | cover-CONT | it | SFP |
| ‘Get something to cover it with.’ |
8.3.3 THE JEUNG CONSTRUCTION
| 佢 | 將 | 啲 | 污糟 | 衫 | 周圍 | 擗 |
| Kéuih | jēung | dī | wūjōu | sāam | jāuwàih | pehk |
| s/he | take | CL | dirty | clothes | around | throw |
| ‘He throws his dirty clothes all over the place.’ (TV ad.) |
8.4 PASSIVES
8.4.1 INDIRECT PASSIVES
| 佢哋 | 兩 | 個 | 成日 | 俾 | 人 | 講閒話 |
| Kéuihdeih | léuhng | go | sèhngyaht | béi | yàhn | góng-hàahn-wá |
| they | two | CL | always | by | people | say-idle-talk |
| ‘Those two have people gossiping about them all the time.’ |
8.4.2 RESULTATIVE PASSIVES
| 對 | 鞋 | 俾 | 我 | 着 | 爛咗 |
| Deui | hàaih | béi | ngóh | jeuk | laahn-jó |
| CL | shoes | by | me | wear | broken-PFV |
| ‘These shoes have worn out (through my wearing them).’ |
8.5 CAUSATIVE AND RESULTATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS
8.5.1 CAUSATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS
| 唔該 | 你 | 幫 | 我 | 整 | 熱 | 碟 | 菜 | 吖 |
| Mgōi | léih | bōng | ngóh | jíng | yiht | dihp | choi | ā |
| please | you | help | me | make | hot | dish | vegetable | SFP |
| ‘Could you heat up the dish of vegetables for me, please?’ |
8.5.2 RESULTATIVE COMPOUNDS
| 你 | 唔好 | 嘈 | 醒 | 我 | 呀 |
| Léih | mhóu | chòuh | séng | ngóh | a |
| you | don’t | noisy | wake | me | SFP |
| ‘Don’t wake me up (by making a noise).’ |
8.5.3 RESULTATIVE AND EXTENT COMPLEMENTS
| 你 | 行 | 到 | 攰 | 就 | 休息吓 | 啦 |
| Léih | háahng | dou | guih | jauh | yāusīk-háh | lā |
| you | walk | till | tired | then | rest a-while | SFP |
| ‘If you get tired of walking, then have a rest.’ |
8.5.4 INVERTED RESULTATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS
| 嗰 | 隻 | 奶粉 | 好 | 容易 | 食 | 肥 | 啲 | BB |
| Gó | jek | láaih-fán | hóu | yùhngyih | sihk | fèih | dī | bìhbī |
| that | CL | milk-powder | very | easy | eat | fat | CL | babies |
| ‘That milk powder easily makes babies fat.’ |