jau4游
Jyutpingjau4
Yaleyàuh
Definition
To swim; to move in water by moving one's body.
colloquialdaily actionssports
How it's used
While 游 can stand alone, it is almost always paired with 水 to form the compound 游水 in everyday speech. Using 游 by itself often sounds incomplete or slightly formal, similar to how one might use 'bathe' instead of 'swim' in English. When talking about the activity as a whole, 游水 is the standard term used by all age groups.
Examples
I really like going to the beach to swim in the summer.
Do you know how to swim?
Related words
Common mistake
Learners often try to use 游 as a transitive verb like 'swim the river', but in Cantonese, you must use a prepositional phrase like 喺河入面游水 to describe the location of the action.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- LocationHow to say where something is using 喺 (hai2), place words like 度, and the common coverbs that work like English prepositions.
- Serial verbsStringing two or more verbs together without any joining word, like go to the shop buy things. Extremely common in Cantonese.
- 將 disposalHow to move the object in front of the verb with 將, to focus on what happens to it. Common in instructions and writing.
