Question by intonation

Level 3

In Cantonese, you can turn a statement into a question simply by raising your voice at the end of the sentence. This is called a 'rising intonation question' or a 'high boundary tone.' It doesn't change the word order and is mostly used to double-check something you just heard or saw.

How It Works

1. How it Works
The 'rising tail' is added to the very end of the final syllable in a sentence. This is technically known as a high boundary tone (H%). It overrides or blends with the existing lexical tone of the last word. Regardless of the original tone, the pitch will hook upward at the end.

2. The Effect on Tones
Because the pitch rises, the final word often ends up sounding like Tone 2 (high rising). For example, if a sentence ends in faan6 (飯, Tone 6), the intonation will pull it up, making it sound similar to a rising tone. This can sometimes cause confusion for learners who might mistake the word for a different one.

3. Pragmatic Nuance
This pattern is rarely used for 'neutral' questions. If you want to ask 'Are you going?' for the first time, you should use 你去唔去？. If someone tells you they are going and you are surprised or just confirming, you say 你去？ with rising intonation. It functions like the English 'You're going?' (declarative question).

4. Register
This is extremely common in casual, spoken Cantonese. In formal writing or speeches, speakers prefer explicit question markers to avoid ambiguity.

Examples (5)

  1. 佢走咗？

    He's left?

    Word by Word: He leave [perfective]?

    The speaker uses rising intonation on 咗 (zo2) to express surprise that the person is already gone.

  2. 你食咗飯？

    You've eaten?

    Word by Word: You eat [perfective] rice?

    This is used to confirm if someone has eaten, perhaps because the speaker sees them cleaning up the table.

  3. 聽日去？

    Going tomorrow?

    Word by Word: Tomorrow go?

    An echo question used to confirm a plan that was just mentioned.

  4. 係佢？

    It's him?

    Word by Word: Is him?

    Using rising intonation on 係 (hai6) to express disbelief or seek confirmation about a person's identity.

  5. 你唔識？

    You don't know how?

    Word by Word: You not know-how?

    Expressing surprise that the listener lacks a specific skill (識 sik1).

Common Mistakes

  • Using a bare rising 你去？ as a neutral first-time question.

    Different Meaning你去？
    你去唔去？ / 你去呀？

    In English, we often use rising intonation for all questions. In Cantonese, doing this sounds 'foreign.' Use the V-not-V pattern for neutral questions and save intonation-only questions for surprise or confirmation.

  • Adding 嗎 to an A-not-A question.

    你去唔去嗎？
    你去唔去呀？

    你去唔去 already makes the question, so it does not also need 嗎 (maa3). End it with a particle like 呀 (aa3), or with none.

How It Connects

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Question by intonationLevel 3

Learn This First

To turn a statement into a question using intonation, you first need to know how to form a basic statement and be comfortable enough with Cantonese tones to recognize and produce a rising pitch at the end of a sentence without confusing it with the lexical tones of the words.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.