叫 + Person + 唔好

Telling Someone Not to

Level 4Sounds Like m4 hou2

Use 叫 (giu3) + [Person] + 唔好 (m4 hou2) + [Action] to tell someone not to do something.

How It Works

The verb 叫 (giu3) is the most common way in Cantonese to express 'telling' or 'ordering' someone to perform an action. When you want to tell them not to do something, you follow the person with the imperative negator 唔好 (m4 hou2).

Key Features:

  • Register: This is the standard spoken form. In formal writing, you might see 吩咐 (fan1 fu3 - instruct) or 要求 (jiu1 kau4 - request).
  • Aspect: You can add the perfective aspect marker 咗 (zo2) to 叫 to indicate the command was already given in the past (e.g., 我叫咗佢... 'I told him...').
  • Contractions: In fast speech, 唔好 (m4 hou2) often contracts into 咪 (mai5). Both are grammatically correct in this pattern.
  • Nuance: Unlike the Mandarin 'ràng' (讓), which often implies 'letting' or 'allowing', Cantonese 叫 (giu3) is more direct and is the default for reporting any kind of instruction.

Examples (4)

  1. 叫佢唔好喊。

    Tell him not to cry.

    Word by Word: Tell him not good cry.

    A simple direct command. 喊 (haam3) means to cry.

  2. 醫生叫我唔好食咁多糖。

    The doctor told me not to eat so much sugar.

    Word by Word: Doctor tell me not good eat so much sugar.

    Here, 叫 (giu3) functions as medical advice. 咁多 (gam3 do1) means 'so much'.

  3. 我叫咗你唔好行埋去咯。

    I told you not to go over there (and you did anyway).

    Word by Word: I tell [past] you not good walk close go [particle].

    The use of 咗 (zo2) shows the action of telling happened in the past. 行埋去 (haang4 maai4 heoi3) means to walk over/close to something.

  4. 媽咪叫我哋唔好玩咁夜。

    Mom told us not to play so late.

    Word by Word: Mommy tell us not good play so late.

    玩咁夜 (waan2 gam3 je6) is a common phrase for staying up late or playing late into the night.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the wrong negator (唔 instead of 唔好).

    我叫佢唔去。
    我叫佢唔好去。

    In Cantonese, 唔 (m4) is for general negation ('not go'), but 唔好 (m4 hou2) is required for commands or 'telling someone not to' do something.

  • Using 話 when you mean "told him to".

    Different Meaning我話佢唔好去。
    我叫佢唔好去。

    我話佢唔好去 is fine, but it means "I said he should not go" (an opinion or advice). 叫 (giu3) is stronger: "I told him not to go" is an instruction.

How It Connects

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

叫 + Person + 唔好Level 4Telling Someone Not to

Learn This First

To tell someone not to do something via a third party, you need to understand how to form a basic negative command using '唔好' and how to structure indirect speech where one person tells another person to perform (or not perform) an action.

Words in This Pattern

唔好