44.2 The Expression 多唔多 do1 m4 do1 (‘Does … have many / much … ?’)

In Grammar and Vocabulary 32.1, we learned that the word 多 do1 means ‘many, much’.

We can use the X-not-X construction to form the expression 多唔多 do1 m4 do1.

We use the expression 多唔多 do1 m4 do1 to form questions that ask if something has a lot of another thing. It functions like Does … have many / much …? in English (as in Does this type of fish have many bones?).

To answer the questions, we can give a long answer or a short answer.

We can also add a degree word before 多 do1 in the answers.

For negative answers, we can also use the expression 好少 hou2 siu2 (‘very few, very little’).

Note that we don’t usually use 有冇好多 jau5 mou5 hou2 do1 to ask ‘Does … have many / much …?’. As we have learned above, we will use 多唔多 do1 m4 do1 for that.