Yes/No Questions: 呀 aa4 and V-not-V

The most important difference: Cantonese does not use 嗎 ma for yes/no questions. Where Mandarin adds 嗎 at the end (你好嗎？), Cantonese uses other strategies. If you say 嗎 in Cantonese, it sounds like you're reading written Chinese aloud.

The primary question strategy is the V-唔-V (A-not-A) pattern: repeat the verb/adjective with 唔 m4 in between. 你去唔去？nei5 heoi3 m4 heoi3? (Are you going?) = Mandarin 你去不去？The only difference is 唔 replaces 不. For 有: 你有冇？nei5 jau5 mou5? (Do you have?) — 冇 replaces 沒.

The second strategy is adding a sentence-final particle to turn a statement into a question. Common ones: 呀 aa4 (neutral question, rising intonation), 㗎 gaa4 (seeking confirmation). 你鍾意呀？nei5 zung1 ji3 aa4? (You like it?) — the particle plus rising intonation signals a question.

For questions about completed actions, use 未 mei6 at the end: 你食咗未？nei5 sik6 zo2 mei6? (Have you eaten yet?). This replaces Mandarin 了沒有 / 了嗎. The answer is 食咗喇 (yes) or 未食 (not yet).

To answer yes/no questions, Cantonese typically repeats the verb rather than saying a single word for 'yes' or 'no'. Q: 你去唔去？A: 去 heoi3 (yes, going) or 唔去 m4 heoi3 (no, not going). This is similar to Mandarin but even more consistent — there's no standard single word for 'yes' in Cantonese (Mandarin at least has 是/對).