Stacking verbal particles

In spoken Cantonese, verbs are rarely used alone when describing specific, bounded events in time. Instead, speakers stack particles to create a precise 'event frame.' Note that this refers specifically to verbal suffixes and complements, which is distinct from stacking sentence-final particles at the end of a sentence.

The Hierarchy of Stacking:
When multiple verbal particles appear, they generally follow this order:

• 1. Resultative / Inner Aspect: 完 (jyun4 - finish), 好 (hou2 - done properly), 到 (dou2 - succeed).
• 2. Directional: 落 (lok6 - downward), 返 (faan1 - back), 去 (heoi3 - away) (Note: Deictic directionals like 去 and 嚟 often split from the stack to follow the object).
• 3. Aspect (Outer Aspect): 住 (zyu6 - durative), 緊 (gan2 - progressive), 過 (gwo3 - experiential), 咗 (zo2 - perfective). Note that these Outer Aspect markers are mutually exclusive and cannot be stacked with one another (e.g., you cannot say *睇過咗 or *食住咗).
• Where the object goes:
  A noun object can follow the whole particle stack, but a pronoun object must break it up, sitting between the verb and the directional particle: 帶佢返嚟 (bring him back), never *帶返嚟佢.
  
  How much is too much:
  Two or three post-verbal particles is the usual ceiling. Longer stacks (like the one in the last example) are possible but sound heavy.
  
  4. Quantifying: 埋 (maai4 - finish off the rest), 晒 (saai3 - all/completely). When both are used, 埋 strictly precedes 晒 (e.g., 食埋晒).

The Special Case of 咗:
While 咗 belongs in Slot #3 (Outer Aspect) and traditionally precedes quantifiers (e.g., 食咗晒 - sik6 zo2 saai3), it has the unique ability to invert with quantifiers like 晒 and 埋 in colloquial speech (e.g., 食晒咗 - sik6 saai3 zo2). Both orders are heard, but they are not on equal footing: 咗 sitting next to the verb (食咗晒) is the order the general rule predicts, and 食晒咗 is the colloquial inversion. More often speakers use neither — 晒 already conveys that the action was carried through, so 咗 is optional and is frequently left out altogether (食晒). However, this inversion is unique to 咗; other aspect markers like 過 must strictly precede 晒 (e.g., 食過晒 is correct, but *食晒過 is ungrammatical).

Object Placement:
The direct object typically goes after the verb-particle stack for path directionals and quantifiers. For example, 攞返晒啲錢 (lo2 faan1 saai3 di1 cin2 - take back all the money). However, deictic directionals (嚟 and 去) usually follow the object, splitting the stack. For example: 攞返啲錢嚟 (lo2 faan1 di1 cin2 lei4 - bring back the money).

Important Rules:
1. Semantic Compatibility: Particles must make logical sense together. For example, you cannot stack a perfective marker like 咗 with a progressive aspect marker like 緊 on the same verb.
2. Negation and Potential Infixes: The perfective marker 咗 cannot be stacked onto a negated verb; use 冇 (mou5) before the verb instead. Crucially, while 咗 is dropped in negation, the rest of the particle stack remains intact (e.g., 佢冇攞返晒啲錢 - keoi5 mou5 lo2 faan1 saai3 di1 cin2 - they didn't take back all the money). Furthermore, to express inability or ability, the particle stack physically splits to accommodate the potential infix 唔 (m4) or 得 (dak1). For example, 食唔晒 (sik6 m4 saai3 - cannot finish eating all of it) or 睇得到 (tai2 dak1 dou2 - can see it).
3. Tone Change (Pinjam): When 咗 is dropped in fast speech or certain constructions, the preceding verb or particle often changes to a rising tone (Tone 2) to compensate.