21.6 Confirming Information with 係唔係 hai6 m4 hai6

We can use 係唔係 hai6 m4 hai6 (‘to be + to not be’) to form questions that confirm whether some information is correct. In this context, 係唔係 hai6 m4 hai6 means ‘Is it true that …?’ or ‘Am I right that …?’. We put 係唔係 hai6 m4 hai6 before the verb phrase.

We can contract 係唔係 hai6 m4 hai6 to 係咪 hai6 mai6.

To answer the question, we can give a short answer or a long answer. We give a short answer more often. For long answers, we usually add 係 hai6 and 唔係 m4 hai6 only if we want to add extra emphasis.

If we need to put the adverb 唔 m4 (‘not’) before the verb to negate the verb, we put 係唔係 hai6 m4 hai6 before 唔 m4.