Helping out a Singaporean couple with their gardening, I'm trying to re-house the water cress I'd given them last year from a makeshift bed (thick plastic lining bottom and sides) into pots for sitting in a tray of water (for constant supply of water and to stop the snails and slugs from getting to them).
Asked the wife which of the pots I could use. She said, "Better ask the boss, or might get told off if we use the wrong pots."
This is a case of kena, the passive marker for being at the receiving end of something not nice, so "to kena V" = English: to be verbed. So one would say, “You’re going to kena scold. / I kena scold for not checking first.” As it’s used so much, and Singlish coming about because people are lazy speakers, it just gets reduced to kena: “You’re going to get kena.” (Sort of equivalent in English: “You’re going to get it.”)
Asked my RI (Raffles Institution) classmates to confirm that I'd got it right (since I never spoke good Singlish and have been away for so long). Boo Tat came back, saying:
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You must add the verb if you want to be specific eg “you sure kena whack”. You leave open if it is a follow up of a consequence ie “You sure kena!”
Generally, if you gotten into some shit, you can say “kena Sai!" Credit must go to my daughter. I first heard her saying “kena Sai” whenever she got into trouble as a kid!!
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wikipedia says:
Borrowed from Malay kena (“to be struck, hit, affected by”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
kena (indeclinable) (Manglish, Singlish)
- To experience, receive, suffer, get or be affected by (something negative).
- He kena fine $10.
- Used before a verb to indicate the adversative passive voice.
- My job application kena rejected.
Usage notes[edit]
- In Singlish, kena exclusively denotes negative effects. For neutral or positive effects an alternative such as tio must be used. This does not apply in Manglish.
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