A2
Result complements — 睇完, 聽明, 搵到
Why Cantonese verbs name the activity and not the outcome, the common result complements, and how the negative works.
A Cantonese verb names the activity, not the outcome — the same idea Mandarin works on, with a partly different set of words.
搵 means to look for and says nothing about finding. 聽 means to listen, not to understand. Attach a second element and the sentence claims the result.
我搵到喇。
Ngo5 wan2dou2 laa3.
I found it.
我聽明喇。
Ngo5 teng1ming4 laa3.
I understood.
我睇完喇。
Ngo5 tai2jyun4 laa3.
I’ve finished reading it.
我搵我條鎖匙。
我搵到我條鎖匙。
Without 到 this says you searched for your keys and stops there. The listener waits for the part they cared about.
The common ones
- 完 — finished it: 食完, 講完, 睇完
- 到 — got it, reached it: 搵到, 睇到, 買到, 收到
- 明 — understood it: 聽明, 睇明
- 見 — perceived it: 睇見, 聽見
- 好 — done properly: 準備好, 做好
- 錯 — got it wrong: 講錯, 寫錯, 行錯
- 親 — and it hurt: 跌親, 撞親
明 and 親 are the two with no Mandarin counterpart worth the name. Mandarin uses 懂 where Cantonese uses 明, and 親 marks an action that caused injury — 跌親 is fell and hurt yourself, where 跌 alone is just falling.
Negating
冇 in front, and no 咗 — the action never reached its result, so there is nothing completed to mark.
我搵唔到。
Ngo5 wan2 m4 dou2.
I can’t find it.
我冇睇完。
Ngo5 mou5 tai2jyun4.
I didn’t finish it.
Those two are different sentences. 冇睇完 says you did not finish; 睇唔完 says you cannot — see potential complements, which is where 唔 slots into the middle.