<p>Depend on the context, &quot;同&quot; as a preposition, can mean &quot;with&quot; or &quot;for&quot;</p>
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li><p>&quot;我哋使唔使[<strong>同</strong>]佢準備個生日蛋糕&quot; -- Do we need to prepare a birthday cake [<strong>for</strong>] him</p>
</li>
<li><p>&quot;我哋使唔使[<strong>同</strong>]佢(<strong>一齊</strong>)準備個生日蛋糕&quot; -- Do we need to prepare a birthday cake [<strong>with</strong>] him (<strong>together</strong>)</p>
</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>&quot;同&quot; strongly implies &quot;for&quot; in your example sentence. Birthday boy usually doesn't prepare the cake himself</p>
<p>More examples:</p>
<p>&quot;[同]我打電話叫警察&quot; = &quot;make a phone call to the police [for] me&quot;  (You don't need two people to make one phone call)</p>
<p>&quot;同我去釣魚&quot; is ambiguous, it can mean &quot;go fishing with me &quot; or &quot;go fishing for me&quot;. To eliminate the ambiguity, you can say &quot;同我一齊去釣魚 (go fishing with me together) or &quot;幫我去釣魚&quot; (go fishing for me).</p>
<p>Again with the context: If it is a friend saying to you: &quot;同我去釣魚好唔好?&quot;, it would clearly be an invitation to you to go fishing [with] him; If you are a slave and your master say to you:&quot;快啲同我去釣魚!&quot; , then it would clearly be an order to you to go fishing [for] him.</p>
<p>As you can see, when &quot;同&quot; means &quot;for&quot; you can replace it with &quot;幫&quot; (help/ for) e.g. &quot;[幫]佢準備個生日蛋糕&quot;, &quot;[幫]我打電話叫警察&quot;,</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-08T13:19:53.623Z
2019-10-08T13:27:13.823Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Tang Ho
<p>我哋使唔使同佢準備個生日蛋糕？
The official translation is: “should we prepare a birthday cake for him?”</p>

<p>I was wondering why the preposition “for” is used instead of “with”, given that 同 is used. </p>

<p>My thought is: should we prepare a birthday cake WITH him? (He prepares the cake together with us)</p>

<usage><cantonese><nuance>
What is the function of 同 in 我哋使唔使同佢準備個生日蛋糕？
# What is the function of 同 in 我哋使唔使同佢準備個生日蛋糕？

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-10-08)

我哋使唔使同佢準備個生日蛋糕？
The official translation is: “should we prepare a birthday cake for him?”

I was wondering why the preposition “for” is used instead of “with”, given that 同 is used.

My thought is: should we prepare a birthday cake WITH him? (He prepares the cake together with us)

**Tags:** usage, cantonese, nuance


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-10-08. Score: 3

Depend on the context, "同" as a preposition, can mean "with" or "for"

> 1. "我哋使唔使[**同**]佢準備個生日蛋糕" -- Do we need to prepare a birthday cake [**for**] him
> 2. "我哋使唔使[**同**]佢(**一齊**)準備個生日蛋糕" -- Do we need to prepare a birthday cake [**with**] him (**together**)

"同" strongly implies "for" in your example sentence. Birthday boy usually doesn't prepare the cake himself

More examples:

"[同]我打電話叫警察" = "make a phone call to the police [for] me" (You don't need two people to make one phone call)

"同我去釣魚" is ambiguous, it can mean "go fishing with me " or "go fishing for me". To eliminate the ambiguity, you can say "同我一齊去釣魚 (go fishing with me together) or "幫我去釣魚" (go fishing for me).

Again with the context: If it is a friend saying to you: "同我去釣魚好唔好?", it would clearly be an invitation to you to go fishing [with] him; If you are a slave and your master say to you:"快啲同我去釣魚!" , then it would clearly be an order to you to go fishing [for] him.

As you can see, when "同" means "for" you can replace it with "幫" (help/ for) e.g. "[幫]佢準備個生日蛋糕", "[幫]我打電話叫警察",


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