Cantonese Adjectives

Welcome to the second Cantonese lesson about adjectives. This time we will first learn about colors, followed by grammar rules, then weather expressions, finally a conversation in Cantonese to help you practice your daily phrases. To hear the pronunciation, just click on the sound icon.

black 黑色 [haak1 sik1]

grey 灰色 [fui1 sik1]

white 白色 [baak6 sik1]

blue 藍色 [laam4 sik1]

green 綠色 [luk6 sik1]

yellow 黃色 [wong4 sik1]

red 紅色 [gung1 sik1]

brown 啡色 [fe1 sik1]

Adjectives Grammar Rules

In general adjectives are words which describe or modify another person or object in a given sentence. For example: a beautiful flower the adjective is [beautiful] because it describes the noun [flower]. The following examples use adjectives in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Grammar Rules - Cantonese + Pronunciation
my house is white [noun + adjective] 我的房子是白色的 [ngo5 di1 fong2 zi2 si6 baak6 sik1 di1]
your country is big [noun + adjective] 你的國家很大 [nei5 di1 gwok3 gaa1 han2 daai6]
new books are expensive [plural + adjective] 新書很昂貴 [san1 syu1 han2 ngong4 gwai3]
we are happy here [pronoun + verb + adjective] 我們都很喜歡這裡 [ngo5 mun4 dou1 han2 hei2 fun1 ze2 lei5]
she has three small dogs [adjective + plural] 她有三頭小狗 [ji1 jau5 saam1 tau4 siu2 gau2]
this language is very easy [adverb + adjective] 這種語言很容易 [ze2 zung2 jyu5 jin4 han2 jung4 ji6]
I have a small green house [adjective + adjective] 我有一間小溫室 [ngo5 jau5 jat1 gaan1 siu2 wan1 sat1]

We're not done yet! The following is a list of more adjectives for you, often used when referring to weather conditions. I think it would be wise to memorize them.

cold 冷 [laang5]

hot 熱 [jit6]

cloudy 密雲 [mat6 wan4]

rainy 正在下雨 [zeng3 zoi6 haa5 jyu5]

snowy 正在下雪 [zeng3 zoi6 haa5 syut3]

sunny 天晴 [tin1 ceng4]

windy 有風 [jau5 fung1]

warm 很溫暖 [han2 wan1 nyun5]

Conversation in Cantonese

Now we finally reach the most exciting part, the practice of the daily expressions used in almost every conversation. I recommend memorizing these phrases, because you will need them for sure.

English - Cantonese - Pronunciation
hi 好嗎！ [hou2 maa1]
how are you? 你好嗎？ （禮貌） [nei5 hou2 maa1  (lai5 maau6  )]
I'm good, thank you 我很好，多謝你！ [ngo5 han2 hou2 do1 ze6 nei5]
and you? 你呢？ （禮貌） [nei5 ne1  ( lai5 maau6 )]
what is your name? 請問閣下貴姓？ [ ceng2 man6 gok3 haa5 gwai3 seng3]
my name is Maya 本人名（李四） [bun2 jan4 meng4  ( lei5 sei3  )]
nice to meet you 很高興結識你！ [han2 gou1 hing1 git3 sik1 nei5]

I hope you enjoyed this lesson about adjectives in Cantonese. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below.