ABSTRACT
Imperatives are a type of sentence telling someone to act, as in commands and requests. While English drops the subject pronoun in imperatives, Cantonese typically retains it:
Léih bōng-sáu lā 你幫手啦
(lit. you help hand)
Help me.
Léih joi góng yāt chi ā 你再講一次吖
Repeat (that) once more.
Léihdeih gān ngóh làih lā 你哋跟我嚟啦
Come with me.
Note that a particle such as lā 啦 or ā 吖 is needed to distinguish an imperative from a statement; of the two, lā 啦 is more insistent and ā 吖 more neutral. The pronoun léih 你 can be dropped, especially in emergencies, but this is less usual than in English and tends to be less polite: Dá-dihnwá bougíng lā! 打電話報警啦! Call the police! Faai dī hōi mùhn lā! 快啲開門啦! Hurry up and open the door! Gau mehng a!救命呀! Help! To make a request more polite, mgōi 唔該 ‘please’ can be added at the beginning or end of the sentence (see Unit 27): Mgōi léih góng daaih-sēng dī ā 唔該你講大聲啲吖 Could you speak louder? Léih làih jip ngóh ā, mgōi 你嚟接我吖’唔該 Could you come and pick me up, please? Note the use of bōng 幫 (lit. ‘help’) meaning to do something for another’s benefit, which is often used in imperatives:135 Léih bōng ngóh sé lā 你幫我寫啦
(lit. you help me write)
Write it for me, will you? (not: *Help me write it)
Mgōi léih bōng ngóh hōi dāng ā 唔該你幫我開燈吖
(lit. please you help me open light)
Would you turn on the light for me?
Although bōng 幫 on its own can mean ‘help’, in this construction, it means that the addressee is expected to perform the action himself/herself.