Future & conditional
No future tense, no conditional mood. The future is 會 wui5 ("will") or just a time word; "would" is built from 如果…就 ("if… then") — same machinery, no new verb forms.
會 wui5 — will
會 before the verb marks prediction or commitment:
| 我會去 ngo5 wui5 heoi3 | "I will go" |
| 聽日會落雨 ting1 jat6 wui5 lok6 jyu5 | "it will rain tomorrow" |
| 我唔會話畀佢知 ngo5 m4 wui5 waa6 bei2 keoi5 zi1 | "I won't tell him" — negate with 唔會 |
| 你會唔會嚟呀? nei5 wui5 m4 wui5 lai4 aa3 | "will you come?" — A-not-A as usual |
A time word is often enough
If tomorrow is already in the sentence, 會 is optional — the plain verb is the normal way to state plans:
我聽日去香港 ngo5 ting1 jat6 heoi3 hoeng1 gong2 — "I'm going to Hong Kong tomorrow" 下個月搬屋 haa6 go3 jyut6 bun1 uk1 — "(we're) moving next month"
| 聽日 ting1 jat6 | tomorrow |
| 一陣(間) jat1 zan6 (gaan1) | in a bit |
| 下個禮拜 haa6 go3 lai5 baai3 | next week |
| 出年 ceot1 nin2 | next year |
就嚟 zau6 lai4 — about to
The "any moment now" future:
就嚟落雨喇 zau6 lai4 lok6 jyu5 laa3 — "it's about to rain" 我就嚟到喇 ngo5 zau6 lai4 dou3 laa3 — "I'm almost there"
Note the 喇 laa3 riding along — imminent futures love it.
Intentions: 想 and 諗住
| 想 soeng2 | want to | 我想學廣東話 ngo5 soeng2 hok6 gwong2 dung1 waa2 — "I want to learn Cantonese" |
| 諗住 nam2 zyu6 | plan to, thinking of | 我諗住聽日去 ngo5 nam2 zyu6 ting1 jat6 heoi3 — "I'm planning to go tomorrow" |
Conditionals: 如果 … 就
"If A, then B" — 如果 jyu4 gwo2 opens the condition, 就 zau6 sits before the verb of the result:
如果落雨, 我就唔去 jyu4 gwo2 lok6 jyu5, ngo5 zau6 m4 heoi3 — "if it rains, I won't go" 如果你有時間, 就嚟搵我啦 jyu4 gwo2 nei5 jau5 si4 gaan3, zau6 lai4 wan2 ngo5 laa1 — "if you have time, come see me"
Spoken shortcuts: 如果 can drop, or trail as …嘅話 ge2 waa2 — "supposing":
落雨嘅話就唔去囉 lok6 jyu5 ge2 waa2 zau6 m4 heoi3 lo1 — "if it rains, then no go"
"Would" — the same sentence
Cantonese doesn't distinguish "if it rains, I won't go" from "if it rained, I wouldn't go" — both are 如果落雨我就唔去. Unreal-ness comes from context, or from spelling it out:
如果我係你, 我就唔會買 jyu4 gwo2 ngo5 hai6 nei5, ngo5 zau6 m4 wui5 maai5 — "if I were you, I wouldn't buy it" — 會 inside the result clause is the closest thing Cantonese has to "would".
What's easy, what's hard
- Easy: no future endings, no subjunctive, one pattern for every conditional.
- Hard: trusting bare verbs for plans, and remembering the little 就 — dropping it makes conditionals sound broken.
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