23.8 Asking About Time with 幾多 gei2 do1

In previous lessons, we have learned different time expressions (e.g., 二月 ji6 jyut6 ‘February’, 二十九號 ji6 sap6 gau2 hou6 ‘the 29th’). We can replace the number in these expressions with the question word 幾多 gei2 do1 to form question expressions for asking ‘what month, what day, etc.’. 幾多 gei2 do1 literally means ‘how many, how much’, but it means ‘what’ in this context. We can contract 幾多 gei2 do1 to 幾 gei2. Notice if 幾多 gei2 do1 appears at the end of the question expression, we always contract 幾多 gei2 do1 to 幾 gei2. For example, we only say 星期幾 sing1 kei4 gei2 but not 星期幾多 sing1 kei4 gei2 do1.

Note that 幾(多)日 gei2 (do1) jat6 means ‘how many days’ instead of ‘what day’.

We can combine 幾(多)月 gei2 (do1) jyut6 and 幾(多)號 gei2 (do1) hou6 to ask for the date.

We can add a time expression before a question expression to specify the time period. Notice we simply add 上個 soeng6 go3 (‘last’), 今個 gam1 go3 (‘this’), 下個 haa6 go3 (‘next’), etc. before 星期幾 sing1 kei4 gei2 or 禮拜幾 lai5 baai3 gei2.