faan1 gung1番工
Jyutpingfaan1 gung1
Yalefāan gūng
Definition
To go to work; to be at work.
colloquialwork
How it's used
Refers specifically to the act of commuting to or being at one's place of employment. It is strictly a colloquial spoken term, whereas the formal written equivalent is 上班. Note that it is a verb-object construction, so you can insert particles like 咗 or 緊 between 番 and 工.
Examples
What time do you have to go to work tomorrow?
Related words
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with 番學, which refers to attending school. Using 番工 to describe a student going to class will sound very strange to native speakers.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- Directional complementsThe small words added after a verb to show direction of movement, like up, down, out, in, and back. Common in everyday Cantonese.
- DemonstrativesThis and that with 呢 and 嗰, the personal pronouns, and how 哋 turns I, you, and he into we, you all, and they.
- Resultative complementsSticking a result word onto a verb to show how it turned out, like eat until full or look and find. A productive everyday pattern.
