The dominant perfective marker in Taishanese is the verbal suffix [a33] (啊), usually weaken to [ǝ]. The equivalent in Cantonese is /zo2/ (咗), and Mandarine le (了). It is used to indicate the completion of an action and the realization of a state. Its negative counter part is [miaŋ21] (a contraction of 未曾[mi32 taŋ22]), or sometimes just [mi32] (未).
我昨晚吃啊饭就去散步. Yesterday, I went for a walk after dinner (after I had had dinner).
[ŋɔi33 dɔu21 man215 hiak33 a33 fan32 diu32 hui33 ɬan33 bu325]
天早饮啊茶讲去. Tomorrow, will have dim sum, then go.
[hein32 dɔu55 ŋim55 ǝ33 tsa22 gɔŋ55 hui33]
佢吃 啊两碗饭. He ate two bowls of rice. [kui33 hiak33 ǝ33 liaŋ55 vɔŋ55 fan32]
你瘦啊好多! You are much leaner! [ni33 sǝu33 ǝ33 hɔu55 u335]
打烂啊个碗头. Broke the bowl. [?a55 lan32 a33 gɔi33 vɔn55 hǝu22]
乃上味就买啊咯,白糖还未曾买. (I) have bought the salt, but sugar, not yet.
[nai55 siam32 mi325 diu32 mai33 a33 lɔ33, bak32 hɔŋ22 van21 miaŋ21 mai33]
佢走未曾啊? Has he/she gone? [kui33 dǝu553 miaŋ21 a33]
Syllable contraction occurs in fast speech. For example:
打烂啊个碗头 [?a55 lan32 a33 gɔi33 vɔn55 hǝu22]->[?a55 la:n323 gɔi33 vɔn55 hǝu22]
上味就买啊咯 [siam32 mi325 diu32 mai33 a33 lɔ33]->[siam32 mi325 diu32 mai:333 lɔ33]
Couple of Notes:
1. Tone-change Alternative for Emphasis
For some familiar and usually single syllable verbs, an alternative to indicate action completion is to raise the tone of the verb:
你瘦335好多! [ni33 sǝu335 hɔu55 u335] You are much leaner!
The alternative is commonly used for emphasis,
佢买 a 几间铺 [kui33 mai33 a33 gi55 gan33 pu33] He bought several shops. ♫
佢买335几间铺 [kui33 mai335 gi55 gan33 pu33] He did buy several shops! ♫
and often used in combination with other discourse markers:
买335几间铺*咯 [mai335 gi55 gan33 pu33 kɔu21 lɔ55] (He) did buy several shops! (big deal!) ♫
It is also frequently used in its negative form:
未曾买335几间铺. [ miaŋ21 mai335 gi55 gan33 pu:33] Not that (he) bought many shops! ♫
2. Complete Sentence or Adverbial Clause?
Constructs with a perfective, i.e. '我吃 a 两碗饭 (I have eaten two bowls of rice),' can be interpreted as either a complete sentence or just an adverbial clause.
For example, if you say '我吃 a 两碗饭' then stop, it will be interpreted as a complete sentence, i.e. 'I have eaten two bowls of rice.' If you continue on, then it will be interpreted as an adverbial clause, i.e. 'After I had eaten two bowls of rice, ...' There is no complication here.
However, if you leave out the numerical modifier (两碗/two bowls) and just say '我吃 a 饭 (I have eaten rice)' then stop, you will likely to get a puzzled (then what?) look from your conversation partner because it is not grammatically correct as the construct is interpreted as an adverbial clause and not a complete sentence, i.e. you abruptly stop in the middle of a sentence!
When will the construct be interpreted strictly as an adverbial clause? As the above example had shown, the rules are hard to define, and native speakers internalized them. For non-native speakers, the easy way out is to add the termination marker [lɔ] (咯) if it is meant to be a complete sentence:
我吃 a 饭咯.
This applies to Cantonese and Mandarin as well. The termination marker for Cantonese is /la/ (嘞), and Mandarin le (了), i.e. 我食咗饭嘞 / 我吃了饭了.