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I've put together 佢哋 + 嗰啲 hoping it to mean something like "他们那些..." in Mandarin.

For one, I'm not really sure about the grammar. This is especially true since 嗰啲 is often found in front of a noun, like: 嗰啲人.

Secondly, even if it is sensical I'm not sure if it is colloquial or not.

Ideas?

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  • For your reflection about colloquial: Chinese dialects are almost colloquial, because very few write in dialects. Some people in Hong Kong favours writing in Cantonese, but the only results are that their writing are not understood by their `unexpected' readers from China's mainland. In Guangdong, China's mainland, there are I think maybe 20% people knowing how to read printed Cantonese, but I believe only less than 1% write in Cantonese. [1/2] Jun 28, 2021 at 16:33
  • Besides Cantonese, there are also some works about writing the Gan language (Jiangxi), the Wu language (Jiangsu, Zhejiang) and the Hakka, but not nearly as popular and successful. [2/2] Jun 28, 2021 at 16:33

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Yes,

佢哋嗰啲 = 他們那些

我哋呢啲 = 我們這些

Example:

佢哋嗰啲喺政府工作嘅人 = 他們那些在政府工作的人 = Those of them who work in the government

我哋呢啲喺政府工作嘅人 = 我們這些在政府工作的人 = Those of us who work in the government

~

嗰啲人 = 那些人 = those people

嗰啲喺政府工作嘅(人) = 那些在政府工作的(人) = Those (people) who work for the government

Edit:

Does 佢哋嗰啲 ever sound more redundant than 嗰啲 or 佢哋 by itself?

If you think 他們那些 sounds redundant compare to 他們 or 那些 by itself, then yes. However, 佢哋喺政府工作嘅人/ 他們在政府工作的人 and 嗰啲喺政府工作嘅人/ 那些在政府工作的人 have a different emphasis.

  • 佢哋/ 他們 emphasize 'them' in specific (we are talking about a specific third party - you have some people's faces in mind)

  • 嗰啲/ 那些 emphasize 'those' in general (we are talking about all or any third party in general)

  • 佢哋嗰啲/ 他們那些 emphasize a specific third party along with all or any third party in general (they and people like them)

Note:

The Cantonese sentences in this post are all colloquial. The Cantonese language writes in Standard Written Chinese (SWC) which is almost identical to written Mandarin.

Written colloquial Cantonese is not considered official or formal. Most of the time you find written colloquial Cantonese in social media, comic, comedy or tabloid

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  • Great! Does 佢哋嗰啲 ever sound more redundant than 嗰啲 or 佢哋 by itself?
    – Mou某
    Jun 28, 2021 at 17:54
  • @Mou某 See my edition at the bottom
    – Tang Ho
    Jun 28, 2021 at 18:08

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