Cantonese

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Best resources for learning Cantonese grammar (self.cantonese)

submitted 1 year ago by Pat12 to c/cantonese

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There are quite a few resources available for learning spoken Cantonese but i've found it difficult to find resources to learn Cantonese grammar.

For example, the sentence "he asked me to send you some photos" is, in my opinion, not a difficult sentence to translate in many languages but it seems particularly difficult in cantonese:

佢叫我 send的畫比你 keui yiu ngoh send dik waak bei nei he + ask + I + send + of + photo + ? + you

I have found this is called the "passive voice" but i don't understand the sentence order or why/where this "bei" is used.

Does anyone have any good resources for learning cantonese grammar, especially making sentences?

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[–] atkdef 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

At the time I learnt English, someone told me that if you're communicating with a native speaker, the receiver is probably competent to understand what you want to express.

You should not worry too much about writing. If not sure, just use words with the same pronunciation, or even words from other languages, like "d/啲".

[–] Pat12 2 points 1 year ago

good to know, thank you! i was worrying about how to write what I wanted to say but it sounds like native speakers often use characters that sound like what they're looking for

I will spend more time on listening and speaking. Thanks for all your help!