# Cantonese: For here or to go



## panzerfaust0

Hello. I work as a cashier in a food court. I have to ask the patron whether the order is for here or to-go. I would like to learn how to say this in Cantonese. I know that in Mandarin, we say, "在这里吃还是带走?" I would like to learn the authentic way to say this in Cantonese with real Hong Kong-style characters so I can listen to the pronunciation in Bing. Thanks.


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## Silver

系尼度吃定系罗走？

Forget the characters and just read them, it makes perfect sense. I lived in Shenzhen for ten years. People there just say things like the above.


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## panzerfaust0

Thank you for the reply Silver.

I looked up "系" and understood that it meant "in".  "尼度" is here.  "罗走" is to-go.  Are these correct?  Also, I could not figure out what "定" means. Does it mean "or"? Please help, thanks.


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## Silver

No problem,



panzerfaust0 said:


> I looked up "系" and understood that it meant "in". "尼度" is here. "罗走" is to-go. Are these correct?



Almost, I think "系" sometimes is just an adverb, modifying words, but it more or less means "in", I can't think of an example right now. 

Yes, "定" just means "or".

Actually, the sentence could also be written either as "系度食定系带走” or "系度食抑咓系攞走”.

Well, in order not to make a list of it, I'll just stop here.


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## Ghabi

You can say: hai2dou6sik6 ding6 lo2zau2 喺度食定攞走

Variants:
hai2 喺 can be replaced by hoeng2 晌
lo2zau2 攞走 can be replaced by ling1zau2 拎走


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## panzerfaust0

Thank you to both.


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## SuperXW

口語中經常出現簡省，"呢度"簡化為"度"，"定係"簡化為"定"，所以出現Ghabi的版本。另外，Ghabi和我用的是香港慣用寫法，而silver用的內地簡化字，兩者選字有明顯的出入。


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## panzerfaust0

Ghabi said:


> hai2 喺 can be replaced by hoeng2 晌



Hi Ghabi, can you tell me why "晌" is used here?  I looked up its meaning, there are two: a while; period of time and high noon; midday.  Neither of them works in the context.  Thanks.


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## Silver

I'm not Ghabi, nor am I a native of HK, but I can tell you from my 10-year experiences in Shenzhen that the word 晌 is colloquial and very very regional, I've heard the famous actor 黎耀祥 said this in one of his TV series, but in the show he's as a not-well-educated man from the countryside. That's the reason why you can't find its meaning.


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## SuperXW

panzerfaust0 said:


> Hi Ghabi, can you tell me why "晌" is used here?  I looked up its meaning, there are two: a while; period of time and high noon; midday.  Neither of them works in the context.  Thanks.


The dictionary you looked up gave you the standard Chinese (Mandarin) meanings, but did not show you its Cantonese dialect usage. "A while" as in 半晌; "period of time and high noon" as in 晌午 are all standard Chinese (Mandarin) meanings.
There are few dictionaries explaining Cantonese (or any other dialect) meanings, because as a dialect, Cantonese is consider "non-standard", "regional", and "oral". 也就是說，對於方言，很多話只是這樣“講”，但並沒有人規定應該如何“寫”，一定要寫出來時，便約定俗成地使用發音相同或相近的標準漢字來“寫”。
“晌”=“喺”=【普通話】“在”。


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## panzerfaust0

I see.  Thank you both.


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## Silver

"晌边xu", sorry I can't find the word, means "where" in Cantonese.

It sounds old-fashioned, very old-fashioned.


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## brofeelgood

Silverobama said:


> "晌边xu"


晌邊處 (hoeng2 bin1 syu3)

Another variant:
Replace 攞走 with 搦走 (lik1 zau2)


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## Ghabi

panzerfaust0 said:


> Hi Ghabi, can you tell me why "晌" is used here?


The word is simply written as 向 in ancient texts (向 meaning "at (a place or a time)" is rather common in Middle/Early Modern Chinese). But in Cantonese the character 向 is associated with hoeng3 "towards", so for hoeng2 "at" the "phonetic" character 晌/响/響 etc is used.

It's just like for sai2cin2 "to spend money" one writes "phonetically" 洗錢 instead of 使錢, although the latter reflects the etymology.


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