Verbs of Motion: 去 heoi3 and 嚟 lei4

The two core motion verbs are 去 heoi3 (to go) and 嚟 lai4 (to come). They correspond directly to Mandarin 去 qù and 來 lái. The grammar — placement, combination with destinations, directional use — is essentially identical to Mandarin.

The character 嚟 lai4 is the spoken Cantonese form of 來. In written Chinese you'll still see 來, but in Cantonese text (chat, subtitles, dialogue), 嚟 is standard. Example: 你嚟唔嚟？ nei5 lai4 m4 lai4? (Are you coming or not?) = Mandarin 你來不來？

Directional complements work the same as Mandarin. Add 去 or 嚟 after a verb to indicate direction away from or toward the speaker: 行出去 haang4 ceot1 heoi3 (walk out — away), 行入嚟 haang4 jap6 lai4 (walk in — toward). This mirrors Mandarin 走出去 / 走進來.

返 faan1 (to return / go back) is extremely common in Cantonese and replaces Mandarin 回 huí in most contexts. 返屋企 faan1 uk1 kei2 (go home) = Mandarin 回家. 返工 faan1 gung1 (go to work) = Mandarin 上班. 返嚟 faan1 lai4 (come back) = Mandarin 回來. You'll hear 返 constantly in daily speech.

The phrase 去邊 heoi3 bin1? (where are you going?) is the Cantonese equivalent of Mandarin 去哪裡? Note 邊 bin1 replaces 哪裡 for 'where'. Similarly, 嚟邊度 lai4 bin1 dou6 means 'come from where'. These are among the most common daily expressions.