Question Words Stay In Place

Level 1

Unlike English, Cantonese question words do not move to the front of the sentence. They stay in place ('wh-in-situ') exactly where the answer would go.

How It Works

In Cantonese, forming content questions (wh-questions) follows a rule called wh-in-situ. This means interrogative words stay in the exact same syntactic slot where the corresponding statement information would appear.

Key Sentence Structures:

  • Object slot: Statement: 你食麵 (nei5 sik6 min6) -> Question: 你食乜嘢呀？ (nei5 sik6 mat1 je5 aa3? / 'You eat what?')
  • Subject slot: Statement: 佢嚟咗 (keoi5 lai4 zo2) -> Question: 邊個嚟咗呀？ (bin1 go3 lai4 zo2 aa3? / 'Who came?')
  • Time / Location slot: Statement: 你聽日去香港 (nei5 ting1 jat6 heoi3 hoeng1 gong2) -> Question: 你幾時去邊度呀？ (nei5 gei2 si4 heoi3 bin1 dou6 aa3? / 'You when go where?')

Important Points:
1. No auxiliary verbs or inversion: Cantonese doesn't use 'do-support' or flip subject-verb order like English.
2. Sentence-Final Particles (SFPs): Adding particles like 呀 (aa3) or 呢 (ne1) at the end softens the tone without changing word order.
3. Position depends on grammatical role: 邊個 (bin1 go3 - who) appears at the start when it functions as the subject, but stays post-verbal when it is the object (e.g., 你搵邊個？ / 'You are looking for whom?'). Furthermore, words like 點解 (dim2 gaai2 - why) can naturally sit either sentence-initially or right after the subject before the verb phrase.

Examples (4)

  1. 你食乜嘢呀？

    What are you eating?

    Word by Word: You eat what [particle]?

    The question word 乜嘢 (mat1 je5 - what) stays directly after the verb in the object position.

  2. 邊個食咗個菠蘿包？

    Who ate the pineapple bun?

    Word by Word: Who eat [past] [classifier] pineapple bun?

    The question word 邊個 (bin1 go3 - who) sits at the start because it replaces the subject.

  3. 你幾時去邊度呀？

    When are you going where?

    Word by Word: You when go where [particle]?

    Multiple question words—幾時 (gei2 si4 - when) and 邊度 (bin1 dou6 - where)—stay in their normal time and location positions.

  4. 佢點解唔嚟呀？

    Why isn't he coming?

    Word by Word: He why not come [particle]?

    The question word 點解 (dim2 gaai2 - why) sits before the negative verb phrase, exactly like a normal adverb.

Common Mistakes

  • Moving object question words to the front of the sentence like in English.

    乜嘢你睇緊呀？
    你睇緊乜嘢呀？

    Cantonese does not move question words to the front. The question word 乜嘢 (mat1 je5) must remain after the verb in the object position.

  • Combining a wh-question word with a yes/no question particle like 嗎 (maa3).

    你去邊度呀嗎？
    你去邊度呀？

    Do not mix wh-question words with yes/no question particles. Use neutral or softening particles like 呀 (aa3) instead.

How It Connects

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Question Words Stay In PlaceLevel 1

Learn This First

To understand how question words stay in place, you first need to know the basic SVO word order of a standard sentence. Since the question word simply replaces the information being asked for, knowing basic pronouns and the common question-softening particle '呀' provides the necessary components to form these questions.

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