zou2 soeng6早上
Jyutpingzou2 soeng6
Yalejóu seuhng
Definition
Morning; the time between sunrise and noon.
colloquialtime
How it's used
While 早上 is understood in Cantonese, native speakers almost exclusively use 朝早 in daily conversation. Using 早上 can sound slightly formal or like a direct translation from written Chinese. It is common to drop the 早上 or 朝早 entirely when the context of time is already clear.
Related words
Common mistake
Learners often mistakenly use 早上 as a direct equivalent to the English word morning in all contexts. Remember that 朝早 is the standard colloquial term for the time of day, whereas 早上 is more restricted to formal writing or specific contexts.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
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Grammar guides
- In 30 secondsThe whole language at a glance. No tenses, no plurals, six tones, sentence particles. Read this before you dive into any specific topic.
- ParticlesSentence particles add tone, emotion, and nuance. Learn the most common particles in Cantonese and how to use them.
- Possession (嘅)How to say my, your, and his, and how to link a describing word to a noun, all with the little word 嘅 (ge3).
