jaa6 sei3廿四
Jyutpingjaa6 sei3
Yaleyah sei
Definition
Twenty-four.
colloquialnumberstime
How it's used
廿 is a specialized character used exclusively for the number twenty in spoken and written Cantonese. It is standard for dates and times, such as 廿四號 for the 24th day of the month or 廿四小時 for twenty-four hours. Using the Mandarin-style 二十四 is understood but sounds unnatural or overly formal in daily speech.
Examples
My birthday is on the twenty-fourth of next month.
Are you here twenty-four hours a day?
Related words
Common mistake
Learners often mistakenly use 二十 for twenty, but 廿 is the preferred form in Cantonese for all compound numbers from twenty-one to twenty-nine. Avoid mixing the two styles within the same sentence.
Grammar color guide
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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.
