13.8 The Adverb 未 mei6 I (‘not yet; yet’)

The adverb 未 mei6 means ‘not yet’. We use 未 mei6 to indicate an activity has not been completed yet. We put 未 mei6 before the verb for the activity. Notice we don’t add the aspect particle 咗 zo2 at the same time.

We can add the adverb 仲 zung6 (‘still’) before 未 mei6.

We can use 未 mei6 to form yes-no questions that asks whether an activity has been completed yet or not. In yes-no questions, the meaning of 未 mei6 becomes ‘yet’. For this type of question, we put 未 mei6 after the verb, instead of before it. If there is an aspect particle or an object after the verb, we put 未 mei6 after them. For separable verbs, we put 未 mei6 after the whole verb. As a rule of thumb, we usually put 未 mei6 at the end of the question or before the sentence particle, if any. Notice we add the aspect particle 咗 zo2 at the same time.

To answer the question, we can give a short answer or a long answer. We give a short answer more often. We use the aspect particle 咗 zo2 and the sentence particle 喇 laa3 for positive answers, and the adverb 未 mei6 (‘not yet’) and the sentence particle 呀 aa3 for negative answers.

We form a short answer by omitting the subject and the object in the long answer. For separate verbs (e.g., 結婚 git3 fan1), we omit the second syllable (the object part). For a negative short answer, we can simply say 未呀 mei6 aa3 (‘not yet’).

When we ask a question with 未 mei6, we assume the activity should be completed sometime. This is different from a question with 有冇 jau5 mou5, which only asks whether something happens.