A1
乜嘢, 邊個, 邊度 — the question words
The Cantonese question words, why none of them look like their Mandarin equivalents, and why they never take a question particle.
The structural rule is the same as Mandarin’s: the question word sits exactly where the answer would, and nothing else moves. What is different is the words themselves — almost none of them resemble their Mandarin counterparts.
你叫乜嘢名？
Nei5 giu3 mat1je5 meng2?
What’s your name?
佢係邊個？
Keoi5 hai6 bin1go3?
Who is he?
你去邊度？
Nei5 heoi3 bin1dou6?
Where are you going?
Compare 我去公司 — I’m going to the office — and 邊度 is sitting where 公司 sits. Work out where the answer belongs and put the question word there.
The set
- 乜嘢 — what. Often shortened to 乜 in speech.
- 邊個 — who, and also which one.
- 邊度 — where. 邊 is the which element in both.
- 幾時 — when.
- 幾多 — how many, how much.
- 點解 — why.
- 點樣 — how. 點 alone is very common: 點呀？ — how’s things?
邊 and 點 carry most of the load, which makes them worth recognising on sight. Almost nothing here overlaps with 什么, 谁, 哪儿, 为什么 — this is the clearest demonstration that Cantonese is not Mandarin with different sounds.
No question particle
A sentence with a question word is already a question, so it takes neither 呀 as a question marker nor 嗎.
你食乜嘢呀嗎？
你食乜嘢呀？
One marker is enough, and 嗎 is not Cantonese in any case. 呀 may stay — here it is softening rather than asking, which is what it does on a question that is already a question.
幾 for quantities
幾多 is how much, and 幾 on its own attaches to a measure word for a small number, as Mandarin 几 does.
幾多錢呀？
Gei2do1 cin2 aa3?
How much is it?
你有幾多個仔女？
Nei5 jau5 gei2do1 go3 zai2neoi2?
How many children do you have?