Saying no, and asking a question

Two words do all the denying, and the commonest question is the verb said twice with a “not” in the middle. Five question words cover almost everything a story asks.

≈ 3 min of reading · Practise at your own pace

What’s in this chapter

Two negatives: 唔m4 in front of a verb, and 冇mou5 for “does not have”.
The commonest question is the verb said twice with a “not” in the middle: is-not-is?
A question moves nothing: the question word sits where the answer would go.
Five question words cover almost everything a story asks.

To deny something, put 唔m4 in front of the verb and change nothing else. No “do” to add, no order to rearrange. The one exception is having, which has a word of its own.

The two words for not

Read each row from the plain word across to its denied form. The same move works on a verb and on a describing word.

係hai6“is”

唔係m4 hai6“is not”

知zi1“know”

唔知m4 zi1“does not know”

the same move on any verb at all

開心hoi1 sam1“happy”

唔開心m4 hoi1 sam1“unhappy”

and on any describing word, which is doing a verb’s job

有jau5“have; there is”

冇mou5“have not; there is none”

the odd one out: “have” with its two inner strokes removed

佢keoi5“he” 係唔係hai6 m4 hai6“is-not-is” 你嘅朋友nei5 ge3 pang4 jau5“your friend”?

佢係唔係你嘅朋友？

keoi5 hai6 m4 hai6 nei5 ge3 pang4 jau5?

The commonest yes-or-no question offers both answers at once: the verb, then the same verb denied. It works on any verb — 去唔去heoi3 m4 heoi3“are you going?”.

Ask who, where, what, when or why

These five words tell you what a question is asking about. Read each one with its example, because a Cantonese question keeps the ordinary sentence order.

Question word	In a sentence
邊個bin1 go3“who; which one”	你係邊個？nei5 hai6 bin1 go3?“who are you?”
乜嘢mat1 je5“what”	你食乜嘢？nei5 sik6 mat1 je5?“what are you eating?”
邊度bin1 dou6“where”	你去邊度？nei5 heoi3 bin1 dou6?“where are you going?”
幾時gei2 si4“when”	佢幾時嚟？keoi5 gei2 si4 lai4?“when is he coming?”
點解dim2 gaai2“why”	你點解唔開心？nei5 dim2 gaai2 m4 hoi1 sam1?“why are you unhappy?”

Nothing moves to the front. “Where are you going” is “you go where”: the question word stands in the slot the answer will fill.

Deny it, then ask it

Make 我知 into “I do not know”.
Show answer +Hide answer −
我唔知ngo5 m4 zi1“I do not know”.
你有冇水？
A verb, then the same verb denied.
Show answer +Hide answer −
nei5 jau5 mou5 seoi2? — “Do you have any water?”
呢隻唔係貓。
Show answer +Hide answer −
ni1 zek3 m4 hai6 maau1 — “This one is not a cat.”

Come back to these chapters whenever you need them.All Cantonese chapters ↗