Use Adjectives as Verbs

What if all you want to do is to only describe something? Most adjectives in Cantonese can behave as a verb under some circumstances - here are a few examples below:

• 我攰(gui6)。
  I’m tired.
• 我晏瞓(ngaan3 fan3)。
  I’m sleepy.
• 佢大意。
  He’s careless.

In these kinds of sentences the adjectives are also taking on the role of the verb ‘is’ in English, which makes it look a bit jarring to start with, since the verb appears to be missing on first glance. Because of this sentences like these can feel a bit naked and thus it’s not common to find them like this out in the wild. Usually they are ‘dressed’ with the modifier 好/很 instead, becoming the following patterns:

Thing + 好(hou2) + Adjective (mostly in speech, sometimes in writing too)
Thing + 很(han2) + Adjective (in writing)

Some examples of this:

• 小明很大意。
  Siu Ming is careless.
• 間屋好大。
  The house is big.
• 我好開心。
  I am happy.
• 今日好熱(jit6)。
  It’s hot today.

Although both 好 and 很 literally mean ‘very’, when used in this way that meaning is lost most of the time, reducing it to just sort of a grammatical construct.

As mentioned here we can also use modifiers to say adjust the weight of the adjectives, but in these cases the modifiers take the place of the 好/很 in the sentence pattern, giving you this new pattern instead:

Thing + Modifier + Adjective

Some examples to show this new pattern in action:

• 今日唔熱。
  It’s not hot today. (Lit. Today not hot.)
• 我非常之開心。
  I’m extremely happy.
• 張機票(gei1 piu3)幾貴。
  The flight ticket is quite expensive.

Vary the Degree

Advanced

It is also possible to use the 「XX地」 form with modifiers in this form, but there’s no need to put any modifiers, 好 or 很 in front of the adjective, as the doubled-up form already absorbed the modifier into itself:

• 粒糖(tong4)甜甜地。
  That candy’s rather sweet.

Don’t confuse this use of the 「XX地」 form with Adverbs though.