A2
How long you did it for
Where a length of time sits in a Cantonese sentence, why it is not where the “when” goes, and the two ways to fit it around an object.
When something happened goes before the verb; how long it went on goes after it. Two kinds of time on either side of the verb.
我琴日學咗三個鐘。
Ngo5 kam4jat6 hok6zo2 saam1 go3 zung1.
I studied for three hours yesterday.
琴日 sits before 學 because it says when. 三個鐘 sits after because it says how long. 鐘 is the Cantonese word for an hour where Mandarin uses 小时.
我學咗琴日三個鐘。
我琴日學咗三個鐘。
琴日 has been dragged after the verb to sit with the duration. It belongs in front, with the other time and place words.
With an object, the verb repeats
The duration wants to sit against the verb and the object is already there — the same collision as with 得, solved the same way.
我學廣東話學咗三年。
Ngo5 hok6 Gwong2dung1waa2 hok6zo2 saam1 nin4.
I studied Cantonese for three years.
Or slide the duration in front of the object, where it reads as an amount:
我學咗三年廣東話。
Ngo5 hok6zo2 saam1 nin4 Gwong2dung1waa2.
I studied Cantonese for three years.
Both are correct and the second is what most people say.
Still going, or finished
喇 at the end says it is still true.
我學咗三年廣東話喇。
Ngo5 hok6zo2 saam1 nin4 Gwong2dung1waa2 laa3.
I’ve been studying Cantonese for three years.
Without it, the three years read as a closed chapter.
Not doing something for a length of time
The duration moves in front of the verb — the one place the rule reverses, because nothing happened for the time to trail after.
我三日冇瞓覺喇。
Ngo5 saam1 jat6 mou5 fan3gaau3 laa3.
I haven’t slept for three days.
Asking
幾耐 — how long — goes where the answer would.
你學咗幾耐呀？
Nei5 hok6zo2 gei2noi6 aa3?
How long have you been studying?