sau2 din6手電手电
Jyutpingsau2 din6
Yalesáu dihn
Definition
Mobile phone, or a mobile phone number.
- Mandarinmobile phone; cell phone
- Mandarinmobile phone number
colloquialtechnologycommunication
How it's used
Native speakers in Hong Kong almost exclusively use 手機 or 手提電話 to refer to the device itself. Using 手電 is widely understood but sounds distinctly like a loan from Mandarin or a regional dialect, making it less common in authentic local speech.
Measure word
go3個goExamples
Can you give me your mobile number?
Related words
Common phrases
mobile phone number
Common mistake
Learners should be aware that 手電 is not the standard term in Hong Kong, and using it may mark one as a non-native speaker or someone heavily influenced by Mandarin terminology.
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.
