Imperatives & Commands

Cantonese imperatives use the bare verb, just like Mandarin: 食！sik6! (Eat!), 行！haang4! (Walk/Go!), 坐！co5! (Sit!). The structure is identical — no special imperative verb form needed.

For negative commands ('don't'), Cantonese uses 唔好 m4 hou2, replacing Mandarin 不要 bùyào or 別 bié: 唔好走！m4 hou2 zau2! (Don't leave!), 唔好嘈！m4 hou2 cou4! (Don't be noisy!). Literally 唔好 means 'not good', but as an imperative prefix it means 'don't'.

Sentence-final particles are crucial for controlling the tone of commands. Without particles, commands sound blunt and harsh. Adding particles softens them: 啦 laa1 makes it a friendly urging (食啦 sik6 laa1 = go ahead and eat), 先 sin1 means 'first' and implies sequence (等等先 dang2 dang2 sin1 = wait a moment first), 吖 aa1 adds gentle encouragement.

快啲 faai3 di1 means 'hurry up / quickly' and is added before the verb for urgency: 快啲行！faai3 di1 haang4! (Walk faster!), 快啲嚟！faai3 di1 lai4! (Come quickly!). This replaces Mandarin 快點 kuài diǎn — same concept, Cantonese vocabulary.

A very Cantonese pattern for polite requests: verb + 吓 haa5. Adding 吓 softens the request to mean 'a bit' or makes it tentative: 等吓 dang2 haa5 (wait a sec), 睇吓 tai2 haa5 (take a look), 試吓 si3 haa5 (give it a try). This is extremely common and makes requests feel polite and casual.