Present tense
Cantonese verbs never conjugate — 食 sik6 is "eat, eats, eating, ate, will eat". There is no present tense to learn; there are habits, ongoing actions, and states, each with its own small marker.
One form, every person
| 我食飯 ngo5 sik6 faan6 | "I eat" |
| 佢食飯 keoi5 sik6 faan6 | "he/she eats" — no -s, nothing changes |
| 我哋食飯 ngo5 dei6 sik6 faan6 | "we eat" |
A bare verb reads as habitual or general:
我做嘢 ngo5 zou6 je5 — "I work (for a living)" 佢住喺香港 keoi5 zyu6 hai2 hoeng1 gong2 — "she lives in Hong Kong"
係 hai6 — "to be", only between nouns
係 links noun to noun. It is never used before adjectives:
| 我係學生 ngo5 hai6 hok6 saang1 | "I am a student" |
| 佢係老師 keoi5 hai6 lou5 si1 | "he is a teacher" |
| 佢好高 keoi5 hou2 gou1 | "he is tall" — no 係; adjectives are verbs (see Adjectives) |
Negative: 唔係 m4 hai6. As a bare answer, 係 / 唔係 is "yes / no".
Right now: 緊 gan2 and 喺度 hai2 dou6
Two ways to say an action is in progress — both everyday, often combined:
| pattern | example |
|---|---|
| verb + 緊 gan2 | 我食緊飯 ngo5 sik6 gan2 faan6 — "I'm eating" |
| 喺度 + verb | 佢喺度做嘢 keoi5 hai2 dou6 zou6 je5 — "he's (in the middle of) working" |
| both together | 我喺度食緊飯 ngo5 hai2 dou6 sik6 gan2 faan6 — "I'm eating right now" |
Mandarin says 在 + verb (在吃饭) and uses 着 for states; Cantonese's workhorse is the suffix 緊 — hang it straight on the verb.
For an ongoing state rather than action, the suffix is 住 zyu6: 攞住 lo2 zyu6 — "holding" (see Past tenses).
"Have" and "there is": 有 jau5
我有兩個細路 ngo5 jau5 loeng5 go3 sai3 lou6 — "I have two kids" 呢度有好多人 ni1 dou6 jau5 hou2 do1 jan4 — "there are lots of people here"
Negative is its own word: 冇 mou5 — 我冇錢 ngo5 mou5 cin2 — "I have no money".
The handful of verbs you can't avoid
| 係 hai6 | be (noun = noun) | 佢係我朋友 keoi5 hai6 ngo5 pang4 jau5 |
| 喺 hai2 | be at/in (location) | 我喺屋企 ngo5 hai2 uk1 kei2 — "I'm at home" |
| 有 jau5 | have / there is | 有冇問題? jau5 mou5 man6 tai4 — "any questions?" |
| 識 sik1 | know (how to) | 我識講廣東話 ngo5 sik1 gong2 gwong2 dung1 waa2 — "I can speak Cantonese" |
| 想 soeng2 | want to | 我想去 ngo5 soeng2 heoi3 — "I want to go" |
Note 係 hai6 (be) vs 喺 hai2 (be at) — different tones, different jobs, and mixing them up is the classic beginner slip.
What's easy, what's hard
- Easy: zero conjugation. Learn one syllable, own the whole paradigm.
- Hard: unlearning am/is/are — no 係 before adjectives, and picking 緊 vs bare verb is aspect thinking, not tense thinking.
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