duk6 lik6獨力独力
Jyutpingduk6 lik6
Yaleduhk lihk
Definition
By one's own effort; single-handedly; on one's own.
colloquialdaily actionswork
How it's used
Emphasizes the absence of assistance or reliance on others when completing a task. It carries a sense of individual strength or burden, often highlighting the difficulty of the achievement. While it can be used in formal writing, it is equally common in spoken Cantonese to describe personal accomplishments or heavy responsibilities.
Examples
He handled the entire project all by himself.
Are you planning to move all these things by yourself?
Related words
Common phrases
to bear the burden alone
to support single-handedly
Common mistake
Avoid using this to describe being alone in a physical sense, such as sitting by yourself or walking alone. It specifically refers to the exertion of effort or the completion of work, unlike the word 一個人 which simply means one person.
Grammar color guide
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Grammar guides
- In 30 secondsThe whole language at a glance. No tenses, no plurals, six tones, sentence particles. Read this before you dive into any specific topic.
- ParticlesSentence particles add tone, emotion, and nuance. Learn the most common particles in Cantonese and how to use them.
- Possession (嘅)How to say my, your, and his, and how to link a describing word to a noun, all with the little word 嘅 (ge3).
