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請問有冇book位嘅？
cing2 man6 jau5 mou5 buk1 wai2 ge2?
cing2 man6 jau5 mou5 buk1 wai2 ge2?
Grammar and Vocabulary
In the Grammar and Vocabulary section, you will learn:
- Yes-No Questions with 有冇 jau5 mou5 III
- Demonstrative Expressions for Locations I
- Location Expressions I
- Referring to Something at a Specific Location
- Vocabulary List
- Vocabulary: Types of Tables
26.1 Yes-No Questions with 有冇 jau5 mou5 III
In Grammar and Vocabulary 13.1, we learned to use 有冇 jau5 mou5 to ask whether someone actually does an activity or not.
To ask whether someone has completed an activity or not, we can put 有冇 jau5 mou5 before the verb phrase for the activity to form a yes-no question in the same way. This type of question is like Have you … ? in English (as in Have you booked seats?). Notice when 有冇 jau5 mou5 is put before the verb, we don’t usually add 咗 zo2 at the same time, although we are asking whether someone has completed an activity.
To answer the question, we can give a short answer or a long answer. We give a short answer more often. Notice when 有 jau5 or 冇 mou5 is put before the verb, we don’t usually add 咗 zo2 at the same time.
For positive answers, we can add or omit 有 jau5. When we omit 有 jau5, we need to add the aspect particle 咗 zo2. For short answers, we can simply say 有呀 jau5 aa3 for ‘yes’ or 冇呀 mou5 aa3 for ‘no’. We can also form a short answer by omitting the subject and the object in the long answer. If the verb is a separate verb, we usually keep the first syllable and omit the other syllables.
我哋有book位呀。 → 有book呀。
ngo5 dei6 jau5 buk1 wai2 aa3. → jau5 buk1 aa3.
我哋book咗位呀。→ Book咗呀。
ngo5 dei6 buk1 zo2 wai2 aa3. → buk1 zo2 aa3.
We have booked seats.
In Grammar and Vocabulary 13.8, we learned that we can use 未 mei6 to form yes-no questions that asks whether an activity has been completed yet or not. The yes-no questions with 未 mei6 are different from the yes-no questions with 有冇 jau5 mou5 we have just learned about. For the yes-no questions with 未 mei6, we expect the activity will be completed sometime and ask whether it has been completed yet or not. For the yes-no questions with 有冇 jau5 mou5, we are not sure if the activity will be completed and simply ask whether it has been completed or not.
你book咗位未呀？
nei5 buk1 zo2 wai2 mei6 aa3?
Have you booked the seats yet?
Possible scenario: We will have a dinner with a person at a restaurant. The person is responsible for booking the seats. We ask whether the person has already done so.
你有冇book位嘅？
nei5 jau5 mou5 buk1 wai2 ge2?
Have you book seats?
Possible scenario: The staff at a restaurant asks whether the guest has booked seats. The guest may or may not have done so.
26.2 Demonstrative Expressions for Locations I
Note that some of the expressions below have more than one pronunciation. For these expressions, we will only use the highlighted pronunciations in this book. You can focus on them first and learn the other pronunciations later.
In Grammar and Vocabulary 2.5, we learned to form demonstrative constructions with 呢 ni1 / nei1 and 嗰 go2. We learned that we use 呢 ni1 (‘this, these’) to refer to something close to us and 嗰 go2 to refer to something far away from us (‘that, those’).
We can also use 呢 ni1 and 嗰 go2 to form demonstrative expressions to refer to a specific location based on its distance from us.
We combine 呢 ni1 and 嗰 go2 with 度 dou6 (‘place’) to mean ‘here’ and ‘there’. The 度 dou6 in these expressions is the same as the 度 dou6 in 邊度 bin1 dou6 (‘where’).
We combine 呢 ni1 and 嗰 go2 with 邊 bin6 / bin1 (‘side’) or 面 min6 (‘side’) to mean ‘this side, this way’ and ‘that side, that way’. Notice 邊 bin can be pronounced with Tone 6 (bin6) and Tone 1 (bin1).
26.3 Location Expressions I
We can use the location expressions below to refer to different locations. Most of them end with 邊 bin6 / bin1 (‘side’) or 面 min6 (‘side’). 邊 bin is usually more often pronounced with Tone 6 (bin6) nowadays, except in the words for ‘left’, ‘right’, ‘lefthand side’ and ‘righthand side’, where 邊 bin is still commonly pronounced with both Tone 6 (bin6) and Tone 1 (bin1).
For expressions with more than one pronunciation, we will only use the highlighted pronunciations (the ones with bin6) in this book. You can focus on them first and learn the other pronunciations later.
We can add the adverb 最 zeoi3 (‘most’) before these location expressions to indicate the furthest of a side.
最 + 左邊 = 最左邊
zeoi3 + zo2 bin6 = zeoi3 zo2 bin6
most + left = leftmost
最 + 入邊 = 最入邊
zeoi3 + jap6 bin6 = zeoi3 jap6 bin6
most + in = inmost
When we add 最 zeoi3, we can optionally omit the word 邊 bin6 / bin1 or 面 min6.
最左邊 → 最左
zeoi3 zo2 bin6 → zeoi3 zo2
leftmost
最入邊 → 最入
zeoi3 jap6 bin6 → zeoi3 jap6
inmost
In the vocabulary list, these location expressions are labeled as both nouns and postpositions. We will learn when these location expressions are postpositions in later lessons.
26.4 Referring to Something at a Specific Location
We can use this structure to refer to something at a specific location:
We can add 呢 ni1 (‘this’) or 嗰 go2 (‘that’) to indicate whether the thing is close to us or far away from us.
26.5 Vocabulary List
For expressions with more than one pronunciation, we will only use the highlighted pronunciations in this book. You can focus on them first and learn the other pronunciations later.
26.6 Vocabulary: Types of Tables
For tables, we use the classifier 張 zoeng1. For 卡位 kaa1 wai2 (‘booth seat’), we can use the classifier 張 zoeng1 or 個 go3.
Communication
In the Communication section, you will learn:
- Getting a Table at the Restaurant
Getting a Table at the Restaurant
- When the receptionist asks questions, they may add the title 先生 sin1 saang1 (‘sir’), 小姐 siu2 ze2 (‘Miss’) or 太太 taai3 taai2 (‘madam’) after 請問 (‘May I ask …’). For example, they may say:
請問先生有冇book位嘅？
cing2 man6 sin1 saang1 jau5 mou5 buk1 wai2 ge2?
Sir, may I ask if you have booked seats?
Route A: With reservation
If the receptionist doesn’t ask if we have booked a table, we can take the initiative to tell them.
We can also provide all the booking details at once.
Route B: Without reservation
If the restaurant is fully-booked for the night, the receptionist will say:
If tables are available for walk-ins, the receptionist will ask:
Some restaurants offer both indoor and outdoor seating. The receptionist may ask for our preference.
If no table is available at the moment, the receptionist will usually give us a paper slip with a number, which is called 飛 fei1 (‘ticket’), and ask us to wait.
To estimate the waiting time, we can ask about the number of tables ahead of us.
When our table will be ready soon, the receptionist will call our ticket number.
When our table is ready, the receptionist will bring us to the table.
- The sentence particle 吖 aa1 is used here because the receptionist is requesting us to follow them to walk.
- The preposition 跟 gan1 means ‘with (following someone)’. We use 跟 gan1 to indicate that we follow someone to do something. 跟 gan1 is different from the preposition 同 tung4 (‘with’), which is used to indicate that we do something together with someone.
When we arrive at the table, the receptionist will say:
In some restaurants, the receptionist will just point to a table and ask us to walk to the table on our own.
- The sentence particle 吖 aa1 is used here because the staff is requesting us to sit at a specific table.
In some restaurants, we can choose our table freely. The receptionist will say:
Sometimes the receptionist will ask if we mind sharing a table with strangers.
Okay with table sharing
Not okay with table sharing
Culture
Table sharing is common in Hong Kong, especially at 茶餐廳 caa4 caan1 teng1 (‘cha chaan teng’) or fast food restaurants during peak hours. It may be because the restaurant is too small or just because there are too many people who need to eat! In the past, tabling sharing was also common in 酒樓 zau2 lau4 / 茶樓 caa4 lau4 (‘Chinese restaurant’, those for dim sum). It wasn’t unusual to see several groups of strangers sitting around a large round table and eating dim sum together!