31.4 The Modal Verb 要 jiu3 (‘to need to’) II

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In Grammar and Vocabulary 23.4, we learned that the modal verb 要 jiu3 means ‘to need to’. We use it to indicate we need to do an activity. We put a verb after 要 jiu3.

我哋要加水。
ngo5 dei6 jiu3 gaa1 seoi2.
We need to add water.
[= We need to refill the cups.]

Unlike other verbs, if we want to mean ‘to not need to’, we don’t simply add the adverb 唔 m4 (‘not’) before 要 jiu3 and say 唔要 m4 jiu3. Instead, we use the modal verb 唔使 m4 sai2 (‘to not need to’).

我哋唔使加水。
ngo5 dei6 m4 sai2 gaa1 seoi2.
We don’t need to add water.

⚠️ Note that we don’t use 使 sai2 to mean ‘to need to’. We only use 使 sai2 when 唔 m4 will appear at the same time. To mean ‘to need to’, we will use 要 jiu3 instead.

❌ 我哋使加水。
ngo5 dei6 sai2 gaa1 seoi2.
✔️ 我哋要加水。
ngo5 dei6 jiu3 gaa1 seoi2.
We need to add water.

To form yes-no questions, we can use the X-not-X construction with either 要 jiu3 or 使 sai2, but we use 使 sai2 more often.

Positive Form (X)		Negative Form (not X)		X-not-X
要 jiu3 need to	+	唔要 m4 jiu3 not need to	→	要唔要 jiu3 m4 jiu3 need not need to

你哋要唔要加水嘅？
nei5 dei6 jiu3 m4 jiu3 gaa1 seoi2 ge2?
Do you need to add water?

Positive Form (X)		Negative Form (not X)		X-not-X
使 sai2 need to	+	唔使 m4 sai2 not need to	→	使唔使 sai2 m4 sai2 need not need to

你哋使唔使加水嘅？
nei5 dei6 sai2 m4 sai2 gaa1 seoi2 ge2?
Do you need to add water?

We can contract 使唔使 sai2 m4 sai2 to 使咪 sai2 mai2.

你哋使咪加水嘅？
nei5 dei6 sai2 mai2 gaa1 seoi2 ge2?
Do you need to add water?

To answer the question, we can give a long answer or a short answer. We give a short answer more often. Notice we use the sentence particle 喇 laa3 in the negative answers because we are indicating a rejection (See Grammar and Vocabulary 16.5).

	Long Answer	Short Answer
Positive Answer	我哋要加水呀。 ngo5 dei6 jiu3 gaa1 seoi2 aa3. Yes, we need to add water.	要呀。 jiu3 aa3. Yes.
Negative Answer	我哋唔使加水喇。 ngo5 dei6 m4 sai2 gaa1 seoi2 laa3. No, we don’t need to add water.	唔使喇。 m4 sai2 laa3. No.

If someone is offering us help and we want to give a positive answer, we usually say 好呀 hou2 aa3 (‘good’) and then the expression 唔該 m4 goi1 (‘thank you’).

A:	你哋使唔使加水嘅？ nei5 dei6 sai2 m4 sai2 gaa1 seoi2 ge2? Do you need to add water?
B:	好呀，唔該。 hou2 aa3, m4 goi1. Good. [= Yes.] Thank you.

For negative answers, we can add the expression 唔該 m4 goi1 (‘thank you’) to sound more friendly.

A:	你哋使唔使加水嘅？ nei5 dei6 sai2 m4 sai2 gaa1 seoi2 ge2? Do you need to add water?
B:	唔使喇，唔該。 m4 sai2 laa3, m4 goi1. No. Thank you.

The table below summarizes the use of 要 jiu3 and 使 sai2:

Situation	要 jiu3	使 sai2
Positive Sentence	我哋要加水。 ngo5 dei6 jiu3 gaa1 seoi2. We need to add water.	--
Negative Sentence	--	我哋唔使加水。 ngo5 dei6 m4 sai2 gaa1 seoi2. We don’t need to add water.
Question	你哋要唔要加水嘅？ nei5 dei6 jiu3 m4 jiu3 gaa1 seoi2 ge2? Do you need to add water?	你哋使唔使加水嘅？ nei5 dei6 sai2 m4 sai2 gaa1 seoi2 ge2? Do you need to add water?