3.5 The Question Words 乜嘢 mat1 je5 and 咩 me1 (‘what’) I
The question word 乜嘢 mat1 je5 is similar to what in English. We can use 乜嘢 mat1 je5 to form a question that elicits a thing as the answer.
| A: | 你平時鍾意做乜嘢㗎？ nei5 ping4 si4 zung1 ji3 zou6 mat1 je5 gaa3? What do you usually like doing? |
| B: | 我鍾意煲劇嘅。 ngo5 zung1 ji3 bou1 kek6 ge3. I like binge-watching TV series. |
To make a question more specific, we can use 乜嘢 mat1 je5 with a noun that specifies the type of thing we want to ask about.
乜嘢 mat1 je5 + Noun (type of thing)
| A: | 你平時鍾意做乜嘢運動㗎？ nei5 ping4 si4 zung1 ji3 zou6 mat1 je5 wan6 dung6 gaa3? What sports do you usually like doing? |
| B: | 我鍾意跑步嘅。 ngo5 zung1 ji3 paau2 bou6 ge3. I like running. |
We can contract 乜嘢 mat1 je5 as 乜 mat1 by omitting the second syllable 嘢 je5.
你平時鍾意做乜㗎？
nei5 ping4 si4 zung1 ji3 zou6 mat1 gaa3?
What do you usually like doing?
We can also contract 乜嘢 mat1 je5 as 咩 me1 by combining the two syllables (乜 mat1 + 嘢 je5 = 咩me1).
你平時鍾意做咩㗎？
nei5 ping4 si4 zung1 ji3 zou6 me1 gaa3?
What do you usually like doing?
We can also add 嘢 je5 after 咩 me1 and say 咩嘢 me1 je5.
你平時鍾意做咩嘢㗎？
nei5 ping4 si4 zung1 ji3 zou6 me1 je5 gaa3?
What do you usually like doing?
As we can see above, there are four different forms in total. We can generally use them interchangeably when forming a question that elicits a thing as the answer.
你平時鍾意做乜嘢㗎？
nei5 ping4 si4 zung1 ji3 zou6 mat1 je5 gaa3?
你平時鍾意做乜㗎？
nei5 ping4 si4 zung1 ji3 zou6 mat1 gaa3?
你平時鍾意做咩㗎？
nei5 ping4 si4 zung1 ji3 zou6 me1 gaa3?
你平時鍾意做咩嘢㗎？
nei5 ping4 si4 zung1 ji3 zou6 me1 je5 gaa3?
What do you usually like doing?
Note that these forms are not always interchangeable when used to convey different meanings.