Name + 佢哋

X and Company

Level 3Sounds Like keoi5 dei6

In Cantonese, adding 佢哋 (keoi5 dei6) after a person's name or title creates an 'associative plural.' It means 'X and those with X' (like 'X and company' or 'X and them').

How It Works

This pattern is a staple of colloquial Cantonese. It allows speakers to avoid listing every member of a group by simply naming the most prominent or relevant person.

1. Usage with Names and Titles
You can attach 佢哋 (keoi5 dei6) to:

  • Proper Names: 阿明佢哋 (Aa3 ming4 keoi5 dei6) — 'Ah Ming and his lot.'
  • Kinship Terms: 媽媽佢哋 (Maa1 maa1 keoi5 dei6) — 'Mom and the rest of the family.'
  • Titles: 老師佢哋 (Lou5 si1 keoi5 dei6) — 'The teacher and those with them.'

2. Register and Context
This is strictly for spoken Cantonese. In formal writing, you would use 等 (dang2) or 一家 (jat1 gaa1). The 'associates' are implied: if you are at an office, it means colleagues; if at a home, it means family.

3. Grammatical Constraints
This pattern only works for human or animate referents. You cannot use it for inanimate objects (e.g., you cannot say 'the books and other things' using this pattern).

Examples (4)

  1. 阿明佢哋聽日去行山。

    Ah Ming and his friends are going hiking tomorrow.

    Word by Word: Ah Ming they tomorrow go walk mountain.

    Here, 佢哋 (keoi5 dei6) turns 'Ah Ming' into a group referent.

  2. 我噚晚喺街見到阿榮佢哋。

    I saw Ah Wing and his lot on the street last night.

    Word by Word: I last-night at street see-reach Ah Wing they.

    The speaker uses 喺 (hai2) to indicate location and 到 (dou2) to show the action of 'seeing' was successful.

  3. 媽媽佢哋去咗買餸。

    Mom and the others have gone grocery shopping.

    Word by Word: Mom they go [perfective] buy groceries.

    When used with kinship terms, it usually refers to the rest of the family members. 咗 (zo2) indicates the action is completed.

  4. 陳生佢哋仲未到。

    Mr. Chan and his colleagues haven't arrived yet.

    Word by Word: Chan Mr. they still not-yet arrive.

    Using a title like 陳生 (Can4 saang1) makes the group reference slightly more formal but still colloquial. 未 (mei6) means 'not yet'.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the pattern for inanimate objects.

    啲書佢哋喺邊度？
    啲書喺邊度？

    佢哋 (keoi5 dei6) refers to people. To pluralize objects like 'books', use the plural classifier 啲 (di1) instead.

  • Redundantly adding 'and' (同埋).

    阿明同埋佢哋去咗邊？
    阿明佢哋去咗邊？

    While 'Name + 同埋 + 佢哋' is understandable, it is wordy and unnatural. The suffix 佢哋 already implies 'and the others associated with him'.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Name + 佢哋Level 3X and Company

Learn This First

To understand 'Name + 佢哋', learners first need to be familiar with basic pronouns and how the plural suffix '哋' is used to turn a singular person into a group.

Words in This Pattern

渠哋