好久不見 / 好久不见
hou² gau² bat¹ gin³formal
The English phrase 'long time no see' can be said in Cantonese as 好久不見 / 好久不见 (hou² gau² bat¹ gin³) or 好耐冇見 / 好耐冇见.
Meaning: idiomatic: I (or we) have not seen you for a long time (intj)
Ways to say it
| Cantonese | Romanization (Wiktionary) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 好久不見 / 好久不见 | hou² gau² bat¹ gin³ | formal |
| 好耐冇見 / 好耐冇见 | hou² noi⁶ mou⁵ gin³ | vernacular |
This phrase is used to express that you have not seen someone for a long period of time.
Which one should you use?
The form 好久不見 / 好久不见 is a written or formal idiom. In contrast, the vernacular form 好耐冇見 / 好耐冇见 is the natural way to say 'long time no see' in spoken Cantonese.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
好久不見 / 好久不见 is considered a formal expression, while 好耐冇見 / 好耐冇见 is the vernacular form.
How do you pronounce it?
hou² gau² bat¹ gin³
Did you know?
- The English phrase 'long time no see' is widely believed to be a calque of the Chinese 好久不見, reflecting how Chinese grammar was mirrored in English during early trade and diplomacy.
- While 好久不見 is used in formal settings, a Cantonese speaker might follow 好耐冇見 with a question about whether the other person has 'grown fat' or 'grown thin' as a friendly way to acknowledge the time passed.
- The formal 好久不見 is shared with Mandarin, but the colloquial 好耐冇見 is uniquely Cantonese and would not be understood in Northern China.
Example sentences for Cantonese are not verified yet.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “long time no see” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
