乜滯 (mat1 zai6)

Hardly

Level 4Sounds Like mat1 zai6

Use 乜滯 (mat1 zai6) after a verb or adjective in a negative sentence to soften the negation, indicating that something almost never happens or is barely the case.

How It Works

乜滯 (mat1 zai6) is a highly colloquial Cantonese expression. It is placed at the end of the predicate (after the verb, adjective, or object).

1. Sentence Structure:
The typical word order is: [Subject] + [Negator] + [Verb/Adjective] + (Object) + 乜滯.

  • With adjectives: 唔貴乜滯 (m4 gwai3 mat1 zai6) - Hardly expensive.
  • With verbs: 冇去乜滯 (mou5 heoi3 mat1 zai6) - Hardly went.
  • With objects: 冇食飯乜滯 (mou5 sik6 faan6 mat1 zai6) - Hardly ate any rice.

2. Nuance:
Without 乜滯, a sentence like '我唔識佢' (I don't know him) is a flat denial. Adding 乜滯 (我唔識佢乜滯) changes it to 'I hardly know him,' implying you might have met once or know his name, but effectively you don't know him.

3. Register:
This is strictly for spoken Cantonese. In formal writing, you would use 幾乎不 (gei1 fu1 bat1) or 很少 (han2 siu2).

Examples (4)

  1. 佢呢排冇做運動乜滯。

    He has hardly done any exercise lately.

    Word by Word: He this period not-have do exercise hardly.

    Here, 乜滯 follows the object 運動 (wan6 dung6) to show the frequency of the action is near zero.

  2. 個傷口唔痛乜滯喇。

    The wound hardly hurts anymore.

    Word by Word: The wound not painful hardly [particle].

    When used with an adjective like 痛 (tung3), it softens the state to 'barely' or 'hardly'.

  3. 我同佢冇見面乜滯。

    I hardly ever see him.

    Word by Word: I with him not-have meet face hardly.

    乜滯 follows the verb-object compound 見面 (gin3 min6) to indicate low frequency.

  4. 呢度唔嘈乜滯，幾好呀。

    It's not really noisy here, it's quite good.

    Word by Word: Here not noisy hardly, quite good [particle].

    Using 乜滯 with 唔嘈 (not noisy) suggests the environment is very quiet.

Common Mistakes

  • Using 乜滯 in an affirmative (positive) sentence.

    佢食乜滯。
    佢唔食嘢乜滯。

    乜滯 is a negative polarity item. It cannot be used alone to mean 'hardly' without a negator like 唔 (m4) or 冇 (mou5).

  • Confusing 乜滯 with 咁滯 (almost).

    我好返乜滯。
    我好返咁滯。

    咁滯 (gam3 zai6) is used for affirmative 'almost' (e.g., almost recovered). 乜滯 (mat1 zai6) is only for negative 'almost not'.

  • Placing 乜滯 before the object.

    佢冇食乜滯嘢。
    佢冇食嘢乜滯。

    In Cantonese, 乜滯 usually follows the entire verb-object phrase.

How It Connects

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

乜滯 (mat1 zai6)Level 4Hardly

Learn This First

To understand '乜滯' (mat1 zai6), you first need to be comfortable with basic negation using '唔', as this pattern only appears in negative contexts to mean 'hardly' or 'scarcely'. It is also helpful to understand its positive counterpart '咁滯' (almost) and the common word '乜嘢' (what) from which the first character is derived.

Words in This Pattern

乜滞