hot3喝
Jyutpinghot3
Yalehot
Definition
To drink; to swallow or draw liquid into the mouth.
colloquialdrink
How it's used
Cantonese speakers exclusively use 飲 for the act of drinking, while 喝 is reserved for formal writing or specific literary contexts. Using 喝 in daily speech will sound unnatural or like a direct translation from Mandarin. It is versatile enough to cover everything from water and tea to soup and alcohol.
Related words
Common mistake
Avoid using 喝 in casual conversation, as it is not part of the spoken lexicon. Even when referring to drinking soup, Cantonese speakers use 飲湯 rather than the Mandarin-influenced 吃湯.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
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Grammar guides
- Aspect markersCantonese has no tenses, but it does have aspect markers. Learn how zo2, gwo3, gan2, and hai2 dou6 show completion, experience, and ongoing action.
- 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.
