maai5 sung3買餸买餸
Jyutpingmaai5 sung3
Yalemáaih sung
Definition
To buy groceries; specifically, to buy ingredients for a main meal.
colloquialfooddaily actions
How it's used
Focuses specifically on purchasing ingredients for home-cooked meals, typically fresh produce or meat from a wet market. It carries a strong domestic connotation and is rarely used for buying packaged snacks or household supplies from a supermarket. Using this term implies the speaker is planning to cook a proper meal at home.
Examples
Have you bought groceries after work today?
I am going to the wet market to buy groceries for dinner later.
Related words
Common phrases
buy groceries and cook
go to the wet market to buy groceries
Common mistake
Avoid using this for general shopping like clothes or electronics. It is strictly tied to the act of sourcing ingredients for cooking.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- QuestionsFrom yes or no questions to asking who, what, where, and when. The patterns you need to ask questions naturally in Cantonese.
- ClassifiersCantonese puts a classifier between a number and a noun, and a bare classifier on its own can mean the. Learn the common ones and how to use them.
- ComparisonsHow to say bigger than, the most, the same as, and not as good as. Cantonese uses 過 where Mandarin uses 比, and that catches a lot of learners out.
