Cantonese Grammar - Possessives

Possessives

• For singular nouns, the word 嘅 ge3 is roughly equivalent to English " 's":

爸爸嘅屋企 baa1*4 baa1 ge3 nguk1 kei2 "father's house"

• Plural nouns take 啲 di1:

你啲動物 nei5 di1 dung6 mat6 "your animals"

N.B.: 啲 di1 is a very versatile word in Cantonese, besides pluralizing certain phrases, it can also mean "a little/few", e.g. 一啲 jat1 di1 "a little", or 早啲 zou2 di1 "earlier" (literally: early + (intensifier)).

• Possessive pronouns (i.e. "mine", "his", "hers") are formed by adding 嘅 ge3 after the pronoun.

係佢嘅呀! hai6 keoi2 ge3 aa3 "It's his!"
(呀 aa3 is a particle used to end affirmative statements)

However, in the case where there's an implied plural noun, one does not say:

*係佢啲呀! hai6 keoi5 di1 aa3 "It's his!".

For example:

呢啲書係邊個嘅呀？ ni1/nei1 di1 syu1 hai6 bin1 go3 ge3 aa3 "Whose books are these?"

係佢嘅呀! hai6 keoi5 ge3 aa3 "It's his! "

嘅呀 ge3 aa3 is usually shortened in speech into one syllable, 㗎/嘎 gaa3.

• One could also say:

係佢啲書呀！ hai6 keoi5 di1 syu1 aa3 "It's his books!"

Both of these are generic possessives.