this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
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Cantonese
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what does "d" mean in your sentences?
I am struggling with understanding these character variations in colloquial cantonese, ie where 比 is a variation of 畀 meaning to/for), i can't find this lesson anywhere to learn about it
“d" is literally the verbal pronunciation of 啲.
Written Cantonese almost always has the propensity of being informal. If you go to any local HK online discussion forum for example, "d" and "啲" are simply used interchangeably by many (for the sake of convenience). It is so commonly used people don't really think much about reading 啲 vs. "d".
If you go buy a book on the other hand, you will rarely see any appearance of 啲 (or "d" for that matter). Instead you would more often see the more "formal" Mandarin Chinese expression of "些" - as in "他叫我給你一些畫" instead of "佢叫我比 d 畫畀你".
(BTW the other comments about 畀 being the right word for "give" is absolutely right. My bad for using the wrong word that has the exact same pronunciation, 比)
(The only thing common between 比 and 畀 is the way these two words are pronounced in Cantonese. They have different meanings, and I wouldn't even say they are variations of one another.)
Do you already have a better grasp of spoken Cantonese vs. written Cantonese? Or are you only starting to learn both at the same time? Being a native speaker I really can't say for certain, but something tells me it may be easier to build some foundation on spoken Cantonese first, then at a later stage try to associate the actual characters with the spoken words that you already have a basic idea about (in terms of how the language is structured). Your progress may become faster that way...
I have read this comment on wiktionary "For pronunciation and definitions of 比 – see 畀 (“(Cantonese) to give; for; to; by; etc.”). (This character, 比, is a variant form of 畀.) ", i asked 2 native speaker friends to translate this sentence and one used 比 and the other used 俾.
I am learning both at the same time, although this seems to not be a good idea! Usually iwth other languages i learn to speak and write at the same time. Definitely there's more resources for spoken cantonese. The problem is if i want to tell someone something, i have no idea how to write what I want to say....
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".
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!