The rule: finished → verb + 咗 (zo2); right now → verb + 緊 (gan2). Cantonese verbs never conjugate — 食飯 is eat, ate and eating until one of these two particles pins it down. English hides the trick inside the verb (ate vs eating); Cantonese puts it after the verb.
| 咗 | 緊 | |
|---|---|---|
| Jyutping | zo2 (tone 2, rising) | gan2 (tone 2, rising) |
| Job | Perfective — the action is done | Progressive — the action is doing |
| English twin | -ed / have done: 食咗 (ate) | -ing: 食緊 (eating) |
| Negation | 冇 (我冇食 — see 唔 vs 冇) | 唔係…緊 (我唔係食緊嘢 — it's not that I'm eating) |
| Situation | Say | Why |
|---|---|---|
| "I ate" (meal over) | 我食咗飯 | Finished — 咗 |
| "I am eating" (mouth full) | 我食緊嘢 | In progress — 緊 |
| "Ate yesterday" | 尋日食咗 | 尋日 (cam4 jat6) is past — 咗 |
| "Eating now, call later" | 宜家食緊嘢，陣間覆你 | 宜家 (now) is now — 緊 |
| "Have you eaten yet?" | 你食咗飯未呀 | The classic greeting — done-or-not + 未 |
| "I didn't eat" | 我冇食嘢 | Finished + negative — 冇, never 唔…咗 |
Negating with 唔＋咗 — 我唔食咗嘢 — the single most textbook-banned sentence in Cantonese. Done + negative is 冇's territory (see 唔 vs 冇). Second slip: using 緊 for states — "我肥緊" for "I am fat" gets laughs; states don't take 緊.
More learner answers on the FAQ page; the negation pair: 唔 vs 冇; more classic mix-ups: 識 vs 知, 係 vs 喺; head-to-head dictionary picks on best Cantonese dictionary.
My words · Word of the day · Pinyin converter · Korean romanizer · FAQ · About · Contact · Privacy