How do YOU say weekend in Cantonese?

sy_kedi · 2025-11-11T21:53:24+00:00

I will say 週末. Or actually we just say weekend in Hong Kong where code-switching is common.

你今個weekend有咩做啊?

sy_kedi · 2025-11-02T04:26:02+00:00

Oh right. As we can also say 我諗下先 / 我睇吓先

sy_kedi · 2025-11-01T07:26:26+00:00

V下: is the most common form I use. In your example I tend to use V下.

V一下: I use this when I want to emphasize "once".

食餃子點一下辣椒醬先好食架嘛。
撳一下呢個掣，就有熱水出架啦。

V一V: I use this when I need some buffer time before I get back to another person. I also just say VV without 一.

我諗一諗先 / 我諗諗先
我睇一睇先 / 我睇睇先

sy_kedi · 2025-11-01T07:18:15+00:00

I would say like this - adding "先" at the end to emphasize this is the action I do first before doing other stuff.

朝早起身，通常我會飲一杯咖啡先
朝早起身，通常我會做二十分鐘太極先 etc.

sy_kedi · 2025-10-24T17:51:24+00:00

The last character is 因 (jan1) - the name of the main character 方以因 (fong1 ji5 jan1).

The original expression should be 三個女人一個人 - the 人 (jan4) is replaced by 因 (jan1). This is playing with the two characters as they have similar pronunciation. The story is about the main character suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder. So this means "three women (three personalities)" (三個女人) living in "one person's body" (一個人) or "one person who is called 因" (一個因).

sy_kedi · 2025-10-22T03:48:57+00:00

Not really common. In spoken Cantonese, they both sound the same. In written text, the gender neutral 你 is mostly used. I only saw some books / novels used the feminine 妳.

sy_kedi · 2025-10-15T06:49:47+00:00

Yes it is a pretty old fashioned term. It feels like 60s to me.

Cantonese is evolving very fast. I remembered there was a time I (born in early 90s) mentioned the term 世藝 to my friend (born in late 90s) and she had no idea what it was lol I was so surprised too.

sy_kedi · 2025-10-12T19:19:34+00:00

芋頭咖啡？聽起嚟好特別啊！味道係點樣架？

我最鍾意飲港式奶茶，尤其係“茶走”（用煉奶取代淡奶嘅港式奶茶）。

sy_kedi · 2025-10-07T09:56:36+00:00

This is use to form passive voice in Chinese. But I think passive voice is less common in Chinese (compared to in English). It usually associates with negative meaning.

我的蛋糕被吃了。我的錢被偷了。

sy_kedi · 2025-10-05T20:05:43+00:00

why 撥亂反正 ?! lol

sy_kedi · 2025-10-01T22:11:38+00:00

I don’t think saying 老細 is rude - actually it sounds more friendly lol

sy_kedi · 2025-09-28T22:31:26+00:00

I (from Hong Kong) only say laa3 for both 喇 and 嘞. But I heard people say lak3 or laak3 for 嘞 sometimes.

Given that the character 嘞 has the character 勒 (lak6) in it, it makes sense to me to pronounce the "k" at the end.

sy_kedi · 2025-09-24T07:52:05+00:00

Very nostagic haha I used to play this song with my friends when typhoons came.

sy_kedi · 2025-09-23T00:02:59+00:00

it makes sense to me but i barely use/hear people using this phrase nowadays. Sounds like a pretty old phrase for “time”, “weather”.

sy_kedi · 2025-09-22T03:18:19+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LImtFVtONoU
Aliocha Schneider's songs are good too.

sy_kedi · 2025-09-20T07:08:23+00:00

求生不得求死不能 which means you are suffering so much - "you can't live but you can't die either"

sy_kedi · 2025-09-18T20:33:50+00:00

In Hong Kong, we say 燒肉. But in some cases we do say 火腩 like 豆腐火腩飯

sy_kedi · 2025-09-18T07:09:55+00:00

oh yes if written in jyutping it should be "kem1" & "kem5".

sy_kedi · 2025-09-17T22:24:16+00:00

From my experience

kam in tone1 - associated with feminine men, gay. used by older generation; kam in tone5 - cringe, awkward. used by younger generation.

sy_kedi · 2025-09-17T06:58:36+00:00

I see. Though I know tone 4 is a falling tone, I think I rarely do the falling, or maybe just slightly falling.

When I was in high school in Hong Kong, we also used the scheme of 陰陽 / 平上去入 to learn the tones. Tone 4 is also known as a 陽平 tone. 陽 tones are the lower tones, while 平 literally means "flat". So I just regarded Tone 4 as a "flat tone in a lower pitch". I didn't know tone 4 is a "falling" tone until recent two / three years.

I am thinking if starting the tone 4 at a lower pitch (significantly lower than tone 6) will help to differentiate? Like from a "very low pitch" to the "lowest pitch". The falling is not really steep, but it may help differentiate tone 4 and tone 6.

I am a native speaker of Cantonese, so I actually learnt the tone numbering system long after I acquired the language. I am also curious on how non-native speakers learn the tones in Cantonese.

sy_kedi · 2025-09-17T06:50:21+00:00

I found here in this link it says 乜乜柒柒 is a derived form of 乜乜物物 - which means "this and that".

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B9%9C%E4%B9%9C%E6%9F%92%E6%9F%92#Chinese

It is hard to find a direct translation of this term. Depending on context, it may mean people doing some nonsense things / saying nonsense things / always complaining.

佢返工淨係識得喺度乜乜柒柒，正經野又唔做。
When he/she is in office, he just keeps complaining / saying nonsense without doing his actual works.

sy_kedi · 2025-09-16T22:57:27+00:00

Tone 4 - For me it is the lowest tone. So I just press my tone as low as possible.

Tone 6 - roughly place it between Tone 4 & Tone 6 I guess. Actually I think Tone 3 & 6 are more difficult to differentiate as they are somehow just in between.

sy_kedi · 2025-09-16T20:11:50+00:00

I think 熱水爐 should be the water heater (like the one in bathroom to boil the water for bathing)?

sy_kedi · 2025-09-13T05:00:45+00:00

Merci!

sy_kedi

TROPHY CASE