I once wrote that while in Mandarin adverb 先 (xian) was placed before the main verb, in Cantonese the same adverb 先 (sin) was regularly placed after it e.g.
Mandarin:
我 先 去 北京
wo xian qu Beijing
I first go Beijing
‘I’ll first go to Beijing.’
Cantonese:
我 去 北 京 先
ngoh hui Bak Ging sin
I go Beijing first
‘I’ll (first) go to Beijing (first)’
I also pointed out that the same adverb 先 could be preposed to the main verb in Cantonese, in which case it corresponds to a different construction in Mandarin, namely 才 e.g.
只 有 他 才 會 這麼 做
zhi you ta cai hui zheme zuo
only have he only would thus do
淨 係 得 佢 先 至 會 咁 做
jing hai dak kui sin ji wui gam jo
only have he only would thus do
‘Only he would do such a thing.’
I recently encountered a sentence in Mandarin which went like this:
你 們 先 收 拾 房 間 才 出 去 吧
ni men xian shou shi fang jian cai chu qu ba
you plural first clean room only.then out go EXHORTATIVE.PARTICLE
‘You (plural) first clean your room, then you can go out.’
As Cantonese 先 regularly comes after the verb and the word for Mandarin 才 comes before it, the Cantonese correspondence would be as follows:
你 哋 執 好 房 先 先 出 去 啦
ni dei jap ho fong sin sin chut hui la
you plural clean room first only.then out go EXHORTATIVE.PARTICLE
‘You (plural) first clean your room, then you can go out.’
As a result, there are two 先’s juxtaposed, one corresponding to Mandarin 先 (postposed) and the other to Mandarin 才 (preposed). Pretty funny, eh? Not sure whether I have ever uttered such a sentence, though it is perfectly grammatical.
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