fat1 jin4忽然

Jyutpingfat1 jin4

Yalefāt yìhn

副詞Very common

Definition

Suddenly, abruptly, or all of a sudden; happening quickly and unexpectedly.

colloquialdescriptions

How it's used

Adding the particle 間 after 忽然 is extremely common in spoken Cantonese to make the rhythm feel more natural. It emphasizes the unexpected nature of the event, often implying that the speaker was caught off guard by the change in situation.

Examples

keoi5佢fat1忽jin4然gaan1間m4唔gin3見zo2咗，m4唔zi1知heoi3去zo2咗bin1邊。

He suddenly disappeared, I don't know where he went.

dim2點gaai2解nei5你fat1忽jin4然soeng2想heoi3去leoi5旅hang4行aa4呀？

Why did you suddenly want to go on a trip?

Common phrases

fat1忽jin4然gaan1間

all of a sudden

Common mistake

Learners often confuse 忽然 with 突然. While they are interchangeable in most contexts, 突然 can function as an adjective to describe a situation, such as 呢個決定好突然, whereas 忽然 is strictly an adverb and cannot be used this way.