Auxiliary verbs

**Can PY: Cantonese official PingYin Pronunciation

Dummy PY: Unofficial PingYin based on English Pronunciation created by Dummy

The three auxiliary verbs in Cantonese are 係 (verb to be), 可以 (Can/ can be) and 得 (Can). Auxiliary verbs are usually used following a pronoun or a noun.

I.e. Pronoun + Auxiliary Verb + Noun

係 (verb to be) when stand alone means yes. To express no, you need only to add 唔(Not) in front to form: 唔係 (No).

係 (verb to be) can be followed a pronoun or a noun, while most other auxiliary verbs cannot.

I.e. Pronoun + 係 (verb to be) + Noun

係 (verb to be) is followed by another verb, often only used to express confirmation that something did happen and often continuous.

I.e. Pronoun + 係 (verb to be) + regular verb

係 (verb to be) can be followed by an adjective to express emotions, and confirmation.

I.e. Pronoun + 係 (verb to be) + Adjective

*Usually we can say 我肚餓 to express that you are hungry. 係 (verb to be) puts stress in the sentence.

係 (verb to be) be used with other auxiliary verbs in sentences such as 可以 (can) or 得(can) to confirm that one can or cannot, they can also be omitted to express the same.

I.e. Pronoun + 係 (verb to be) + 可以 (can)/ 得(can) + Noun

可以 (Can/ can be) can be used as a stand alone word to express one’s ability. When you say 可以, it means (someone) can. It is usually followed by a verb or an adjective in a sentence, it cannot be followed by a noun.

I.e. Pronoun + 可以 (can) + Verb

可以 (Can/ can be) can be followed by an adjective.

I.e. Pronoun + 可以 (can be) + Adjective

*Note: The only time when you put 可以 (can/can be) in a sentence with a noun is when you add 係 (verb to be) after it, 係 (verb to be) in the sentence will act as “be”. 可以 (can/can be) followed by 係 (verb to be) is used to express confirmation. This time, the stress is on 係 (verb to be), confirming whether one can be or not be. In this case, It can only be followed by a noun or an adjective.

I.e. Pronoun + 可以 (can) + 係 (verb to be) + Noun

I.e. Pronoun + 可以 (can) + 係 (verb to be) + Adjective

得 (Can) in Hong Kong Cantonese as a verb means can, it can also act as an adjective meaning okay or great, (e.g. 得嘅！Will be okay!/ Can be done! ). The difference between 可以 (can) and 得 (Can) is the degree of whether something is possible. 得 (Can) expresses a stronger plausibility. 得 (Can) is only used to form a sentence with regular verbs, but not adjectives nor nouns.

Another characteristic of 得 (Can) that differs from 可以 (can) is that 得 (Can) is usually placed after the regular verb if the regular verb only has one character:

I.e. Pronoun + Regular Verb + 得 (Can)

得 (Can) is also placed in between characters within the regular verb if the regular verb contains two or more characters.

I.e. Pronoun + (Regular Verb character + 得 (Can) + Regular Verb character)

*Notice 攪掂 (Get Sth. done) is one word, and 得 (Can) is placed between the two characters. 得 (Can) and 可以 (can) are often used together in a sentence following the sentence structures below. In this case, 得 (Can) functions like the word “Already” or can be omitted.

I.e. Pronoun + 可以 (can)+ regular verb (1 character) + 得 (Can)

Or

I.e. Pronoun + 可以 (can)+ (Regular Verb character + 得 (Can) + Regular Verb character)

係 (verb to be)

1. By itself means: Yes (係) or No (唔係）

2. Act as verb to be

- Pronoun + 係 (verb to be) + Noun

- Pronoun + 係 (verb to be) + regular verb

- Pronoun + 係 (verb to be) + Adjective

3. When combined with other auxiliary verbs 可以 (can)/ 得(can) to express stronger confirmation - Pronoun + 係 (verb to be) + 可以 (can)/ 得(can) + Noun

可以 (can/ can be)

1. By itself means: Can, could, may, might, shall, should (可以) or cannot, could not, may not, might not, shall not, should not (唔可以)

2. Act as auxiliary verb

- Pronoun + 可以 (can) + Verb

- Pronoun + 可以 (can) + Adjective

3. When combined with 係 (verb to be) to express stronger confirmation (Stress on “be”)

- Pronoun + 可以 (can) + 係 (verb to be) + Noun

- Pronoun + 可以 (can) + 係 (verb to be) + Adjective

得 (can)

1. By itself means: Okay or no problem (得) or not okay (唔得)

2. Act as auxiliary verb

- Pronoun + Regular Verb + 得 (Can)

- Pronoun + (Regular Verb character + 得 (Can) + Regular Verb character)

3. When combined with 可以 (can). *得 (Can) ‘s meaning becomes “already” or can be omitted.

- Pronoun + 可以 (can)+ regular verb (1 character) + 得 (Can)

- Pronoun + 可以 (can)+ (Regular Verb character + 得 (Can) + Regular Verb

Tips: 可以 (can/ can be), 得 (can) can often be replaced by the English word “Okay” in Hong Kongese. For example, to confirm yes or sth. can be done you can simply say “Okay”. To express no, on the other hand, you can say “唔OK”. To indicate yes with a pronoun like 我可以 (I can), 我唔得 (I can), you can say “我OK”. On the other hand, to indicate no with a pronoun such as 你唔可以 (You cannot) 你唔得 (I cannot), you can say “你唔OK”.