Written vs Spoken Cantonese

書面語同口語

About this concept

Cantonese has distinct written (書面語) and spoken (口語) registers. Written form follows Standard Written Chinese; spoken form uses Cantonese-specific characters. Key vocabulary differences exist.

In Settemila Lingue, this concept generates a practice deck of ~40 cards at level B1.

Examples

口語：佢哋 → 書面語：他們they (spoken vs written)

口語：唔係 → 書面語：不是is not (spoken vs written)

口語：乜嘢 → 書面語：什麼what (spoken vs written)

口語：嘅 → 書面語：的possessive particle (spoken vs written)

Concepts that build on this

Classical and Literary ExpressionsC1 Formal Spoken CantoneseC1 English Code-Mixing PatternsC1

More B1 concepts

Advanced Sentence-Final Particles進階語氣助詞 Resultative Complements結果補語 Potential Complements (得/唔)能力補語 Tentative Aspect 吓嘗試體「吓」Serial Verb Constructions連動句

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