Can it be done? 得 and 唔 in Cantonese result phrases

搞唔掂 means being unable to manage or sort something out. In 我咁老，搞唔掂喇, the speaker gives their age as a reason they cannot handle it. The sentence is a performance line, not a general claim about what older people can do.

For a simple written contrast, remove the surrounding explanation and compare 搞得掂 with 搞唔掂. The action and desired outcome stay fixed. What changes is whether that outcome is within reach. This controlled pair is practice text, not a second recorded take.

你真係講得出做得到 praises someone whose words can be backed by action. Notice the two sequences: 講得出 and 做得到. The line is useful for spotting the construction twice, but its overall meaning is more than a mechanical collection of can phrases.

我整得返好㗎 presents repairing something back to a good state as achievable. Keep 返好 together as part of the outcome. Do not delete words merely to make every example fit the shortest possible template.

呢啲唔係我搞得掂 contains 唔係 before the longer claim about what the speaker can handle. It is not the same word order as simply inserting 唔 between 搞 and 掂. The practical meaning is that these matters are beyond the speaker, but the grammatical route differs.

Likewise, 你接受唔到真相㗎 places 唔 inside 接受唔到: the speaker says the listener cannot accept the truth. Its dramatic, confrontational setting makes it a comprehension example rather than a recommended way to disagree with a friend.

今晚我揸車唔飲得 says the speaker cannot drink because they are driving. It is not a claim that the physical action of drinking cannot be completed. The surrounding reason is essential to the interpretation.

CUHK’s modality material separates possibility, permission, ability and potential constructions. Use that distinction in practice: label each example by the kind of cannot involved, then identify its actual word order. Resist converting every English can sentence into one Cantonese template.