Why are the two words of Cantonese verbs seperated

A common mistake my students make when putting verbs in a sentence is thinking that the components of two-word verbs have to stick together.

How two-character verbs are formed:

To understand this, first we need to know that a lot of Cantonese verbs consist of two components.

1. the actual verb
2. the complimentary noun

Let's take a look at some examples.

The verb 行山 (hang4 saan1) means to hike. But if we break the verb down to it's components,

1. 行 (hang4) - to walk
2. 山 (saan1) - mountain

揸車 (zaa1 ce1) - to drive a car/to drive can be broken down into:

1. 揸 (zaa1) -to handle/to drive
2. 車 (ce1 )- car/vehicle

唱歌 (coeng3 go1) - to sing can be broken down into:

1. 唱 (coeng3) - to sing
2. 歌 (go1) - song

起身 (hei2 san1) - to get up/to wake up can be broken down into:

1. 起 (hei2) - to rise/to get up
2. 身 (san1) - body

You get the idea.

Knowing this makes it so much easier to form sentences!

Let's look at scenarios where we have to separate the verbs.

the suffix word that indicates that an action occurred in the past is 咗(zo2). It goes after the verb component of the verb. Think of it a bit like "-ed" in English.

To turn hike to hiked, a common mistake is to say 行山咗 (hang4 saan1 zo2). This is not correct. It should be 行咗山 (hang4 zo2 saan1), since the verb component is 行 (hang4) to walk.

The suffix word that indicates present continuous is 緊 (gan2).

Similarly, to turn hike to hiking, we put 緊 (gan2) after the verb component 行 (hang4). So, 行緊山 (hang43 gan2 saan1) - hiking.

Your turn!

Now, let's practice adding suffixes to two-word verbs!

Exercise 1: add the 咗(zo2) suffix to these verbs

咗(zo2) - suffix to indicate past action

1. 食飯 (sik6 faan6) - to eat (a meal)
2. 睇戲 (tai2 hei3) - to watch a movie
3. 游水 (jau4 seoi2) - to swim

Hints:

Exercise 2: add the 緊 (gan2) suffix to these verbs

緊 (gan2) - suffix to indicate present continuous action

1. 換衫 (wun6 saam1) - to change clothes
2. 返學 (faan1 hok6) - to go to school
3. 沖涼 (cung1 loeng4) - to take a shower

Hints:

Answers

Exercise 1: add the 咗(zo2) suffix to these verbs

1. 食咗飯 (sik6 zo2 faan6) - have eaten (a meal)
2. 睇咗戲 (tai2 zo2 hei3) - have watched a movie/show
3. 游咗水 (jau4 zo2 seoi2) - have swum

Exercise 2: add the 緊 (gan2) suffix to these verbs

1. 換緊衫 (wun6 gan2 saam1) - changing clothes
2. 返緊學 (faan1 gan2 hok6) - going to school
3. 沖緊涼 (cung1 gan2 loeng4) - taking a shower

Knowing how to separate verbs, we will have a much easier time forming sentences.