hai6 gam2 ji3係噉意系啖意
Jyutpinghai6 gam2 ji3
Yalehaih gám yi
Definition
Casually, perfunctorily, or just a little bit, without paying serious attention.
colloquialdaily actionsdescriptions
How it's used
Carries a sense of doing something just to get it over with or to meet a minimum requirement without genuine effort. It often implies a lack of sincerity or thoroughness, making it a common way to criticize someone for being lazy or perfunctory. It is frequently used when someone performs a task with the bare minimum of attention.
Examples
He tidied up his room a bit casually and then left.
Don't do your work so carelessly, you need to be more serious.
Related words
Common phrases
to do something in a perfunctory manner
to tidy up casually
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with 隨便, which can mean 'at your convenience' or 'as you like' in a positive or neutral way. 係噉意 almost always carries a negative connotation of being sloppy or dismissive.
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).
