A2
嚟 and 去 — which way it went
How 嚟 and 去 attach to Cantonese verbs to show direction, why the choice is made from the speaker’s position, and where the object sits.
嚟 is come and 去 is go, and attached to a movement verb they say which way it went — 嚟 towards the speaker, 去 away. The choice is about where you are, not about the map.
入嚟啦。
Jap6lai4 laa1.
Come in.
佢出咗去。
Keoi5 ceot1zo2 heoi3.
He’s gone out.
我返嚟喇。
Ngo5 faan1lai4 laa3.
I’m back.
入去啦。
入嚟啦。
Said at your own front door, 入去 tells your guest to go into somewhere you are not. Grammatical, and the wrong instruction.
The set
上, 落, 入, 出, 返, 過 combine with 嚟 and 去:
- 上嚟 / 上去 — up
- 落嚟 / 落去 — down
- 入嚟 / 入去 — in
- 出嚟 / 出去 — out
- 返嚟 / 返去 — back
- 過嚟 / 過去 — over
落 is down where Mandarin uses 下, and 返 is back where Mandarin uses 回 — both are among the highest-frequency characters in Cantonese and neither will look familiar from a Mandarin course.
Attached to another verb
Any movement verb takes the whole direction as a unit.
佢跑咗出去。
Keoi5 paau2zo2 ceot1heoi3.
He ran out.
佢行咗入嚟。
Keoi5 haang4zo2 jap6lai4.
She walked in.
Where the object goes
Between the two halves, before 嚟 or 去.
佢攞咗本書出嚟。
Keoi5 lo2zo2 bun2 syu1 ceot1lai4.
He took out the book.
From where you are, not where things are
Chosen from the speaker’s position at the moment of speaking, including on the phone — the same rule Mandarin has, and the same one English breaks.
我聽日去你度。
Ngo5 ting1jat6 heoi3 nei5 dou6.
I’ll come to yours tomorrow.
English says come to yours, taking the listener’s side. Cantonese says 去, because the speaker is not there.