畀 in Cantonese: giving, letting and being affected

我哋各自畀錢啦 proposes that each person pays their own share. Here 畀錢 is paying money. 畀啲反應啦 asks for some response; the thing being given is figurative rather than a physical object.

In 打電話俾你阿媽啦, the phrase after 俾 identifies the recipient of the call. The preceding words already specify calling. Translating this 俾 as a separate English give would produce the wrong structure; in English you call someone or make a call to them.

畀佢發揮吓啦 invites the listener to let the other person show what they can do. The person after 畀 is the one who will perform. They are not receiving a physical object called perform.

Draw the roles with words: listener allows → other person performs. This makes the structure easier to compare with the paying example. The English internet hook Let him cook is a contextual prompt; the Cantonese action is 發揮, not cooking.

開頭真係畀佢哋呃到 describes being fooled by them at the beginning. 佢哋 is the group doing the deceiving. The affected speaker or group is understood from context rather than named before the passive phrase.

CUHK’s verb-phrase material treats passive constructions separately from recipient constructions. Keep that distinction in your notes. An English by translation can help with this example, but do not attach by automatically to every 畀 you meet.

For each line, ask: what happens, who does it, and who receives or experiences it? You can answer those questions in plain English before learning terms such as recipient and passive. If your interpretation makes the same person both giver and receiver without a reason, revisit the surrounding words.

The spelling difference 畀/俾 in the catalogue does not by itself identify the grammatical role. Both appear with bei2 in these examples. Use the full clause and its context. Practice with one clear example per role before tackling a longer sentence that contains more than one bei2.