m4 tung1 hei3唔通氣唔通气
Jyutpingm4 tung1 hei3
Yalem̀h tūng hei
Definition
Clueless, dense, or lacking social tact and understanding of social situations.
colloquialpeopledescriptions
How it's used
Focuses on a lack of social awareness or emotional intelligence in specific interpersonal contexts. It describes someone who fails to read the room or understand the unwritten rules of social interaction, rather than someone who is simply unintelligent. It is often used as a mild, slightly frustrated critique of someone's behavior in a social setting.
Examples
Why are you so clueless, interrupting while others are talking?
He is really dense, always saying the wrong things in front of the boss.
Common mistake
Do not confuse this with 唔通, which is a common way to start a rhetorical question meaning 'could it be that'. 唔通氣 is strictly an adjective describing a person's lack of social tact.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
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Classifier
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Connector
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.
