24.8 The Expression 請問 cing2 man6 / ceng2 man6 (‘May I ask…’)
The expression 請問 cing2 man6 / ceng2 man6 means ‘May I ask…’. It is formed by combining 請 cing2 / ceng2 (‘please’) and 問 man6 (‘to ask’). We can add 請問 cing2 man6 at the beginning of a question to make the question extra polite. Compare:
你想book幾時嘅？
nei5 soeng2 buk1 gei2 si4 ge2?
When do you want to book for?
請問你想book幾時嘅？
cing2 man6 nei5 soeng2 buk1 gei2 si4 ge2?
May I ask when you want to book for?
The second question with 請問 cing2 man6 is more polite than the first question without 請問 cing2 man6.
Note that we usually only use 請問 cing2 man6 when talking to someone we don’t know. We rarely use it with someone we are close to. Also, while adding 請問 cing2 man6 to a question makes the question more polite, a question without 請問 cing2 man6 is still polite. If someone asks you a question without adding 請問 cing2 man6, it doesn’t mean that the person is disrespectful to you.