Adjectives
Cantonese adjectives are verbs. 貴 gwai3 doesn't mean "expensive" — it means "to be expensive". No is, no agreement, and comparison works by saying "tall-past me", not "than me".
No 係, no agreement
| 佢好高 keoi5 hou2 gou1 | "he is tall" — no 係 hai6 |
| 啲嘢好貴 di1 je5 hou2 gwai3 | "the stuff is expensive" — same form, any number |
| 唔貴 m4 gwai3 | "not expensive" — negate like a verb, with 唔 |
Using 係 before an adjective (佢係高) is the classic learner error — 係 links nouns only.
好 hou2 — the default filler
A bare adjective sounds comparative ("this one is the cheap one, by contrast"). Plain statements take 好 hou2, which here means less "very" and more "is":
呢間餐廳好好食 ni1 gaan1 caan1 teng1 hou2 hou2 sik6 — "this restaurant is (really) good" 今日好熱 gam1 jat6 hou2 jit6 — "it's hot today"
Same job as Mandarin's default 很 hěn.
Before a noun
Adjective + noun directly if short; add 嘅 ge3 when modified or heavy:
| 靚衫 leng3 saam1 | "nice clothes" |
| 好靚嘅衫 hou2 leng3 ge3 saam1 | "very nice clothes" |
Comparison: 過 gwo3 — not 比!
The flagship difference from Mandarin. Cantonese puts the adjective between the two things compared:
| pattern | |
|---|---|
| Cantonese | A + adj + 過 + B — 佢高過我 keoi5 gou1 gwo3 ngo5 — "he's taller than me" |
| Mandarin | A + 比 + B + adj — 他比我高 tā bǐ wǒ gāo |
More:
呢間平過嗰間 ni1 gaan1 peng4 gwo3 go2 gaan1 — "this one's cheaper than that one" 廣東話難過英文 gwong2 dung1 waa2 naan4 gwo3 jing1 man2 — "Cantonese is harder than English"
(比 does appear in formal or Mandarin-influenced speech, but 過 is the native pattern.)
More and most
| adj + 啲 di1 | "-er (a bit)" | 快啲啦! faai3 di1 laa1 — "hurry up!" (lit. "faster!") |
| 仲 zung6 + adj | "even more" | 仲貴 zung6 gwai3 — "even more expensive" |
| 最 zeoi3 + adj | "-est" | 最平 zeoi3 peng4 — "cheapest" |
| 同 B 一樣 adj | "as adj as B" | 佢同我一樣高 keoi5 tung4 ngo5 jat1 joeng6 gou1 — "he's as tall as me" |
Reduplication: 甜甜哋 — "sweet-ish"
Doubling + 哋 dei2 softens an adjective; the second syllable jumps to a high rising tone:
| 甜甜哋 tim4 tim2 dei2 | "sweetish" |
| 紅紅哋 hung4 hung2 dei2 | "reddish" |
| 傻傻哋 so4 so2 dei2 | "a bit silly" |
What's easy, what's hard
- Easy: no agreement, no gender, no endings — and comparison needs no new verb forms.
- Hard: deleting is from your instincts, and flipping the comparison order if you learned Mandarin first — 高過我, not
比我高.
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