A2
得 — how well you do it
How 得 attaches a description to a verb in Cantonese, why the verb repeats when there is an object, and how this 得 differs from the one inside a potential complement.
得 links a verb to a description of how it is done. What follows behaves like any adjective, so it wants 好 in front of it for the usual reason.
佢跑得好快。
Keoi5 paau2dak1 hou2 faai3.
He runs fast.
你講得好好。
Nei5 gong2dak1 hou2 hou2.
You speak well.
講得好好 has 好 twice — the filler and the adjective — which looks like a stutter and is entirely normal.
With an object, say the verb twice
得 has to sit directly against the verb, and an object has taken that place, so the verb is repeated.
佢講廣東話講得好好。
Keoi5 gong2 Gwong2dung1waa2 gong2dak1 hou2 hou2.
He speaks Cantonese well.
佢講廣東話得好好。
佢講廣東話講得好好。
得 cannot reach over the object to find its verb. Repeating 講 is what gives it something to attach to.
Dropping the first verb also works when the object is already in the air: 佢廣東話 講得好好.
Negating
The negative belongs to the description, not to the verb.
我琴晚瞓得唔好。
Ngo5 kam4maan5 fan3dak1 m4 hou2.
I slept badly last night.
Asking
點 or 點樣 goes where the description would.
佢廣東話講得點呀？
Keoi5 Gwong2dung1waa2 gong2dak1 dim2 aa3?
How’s his Cantonese?
Not the same 得 as in a potential complement
Same character, different structure. Here 得 is followed by a description of how it went. In 睇得明 it is followed by a result and can be swapped for 唔 — see potential complements. What comes after it is the giveaway.