This Web site is not intended to teach Chinese grammar, but here are a few relevant points on sentence structure, pronunciation, and usage in Cantonese and Mandarin.

Cantonese:

G1 Both "m4 goi1" and "cheng2" mean "please" and can be used interchangeably when used at the beginning of a sentence. However, "cheng2" is more formal.

G2 Yes/No questions are commonly asked in the "______ m4 ______" format, with the verb in the blank space. The positive answer is usually just the verb. The negative answer is formed by placing "m4" in front of the verb. For example, "sik1" means "to know." So "nei5 sik1 m4 sik1" literally asks, "do you know or not know?" If you wanted to answer "yes," you'd say "sik1." If you wanted to answer "no," you'd say "m4 sik1." A verb can be more than one character. Sometimes as a shortcut, the first blank in "_____ m4 _____" will have only the first character. In such cases, the positive answer should contain the full verb, which appears after the "m4." For example, in "teng1 m4 teng1 dak1 ming4," "teng1 dak1 ming4" is the full verb.

G3 "ga3" and "a3" and "laak3" at the end of phrases don't mean anything. These sounds are just a way to make the language sound less formal.

G4 Often when asking have/not have type of questions, "yau5 mou5" is used. The positive answer is "yau5," and the negative answer is "mou5." For example, "nei5 you5 mou5 sik1" means "Have you eaten?" To answer "yes" you'd say "you5." To answer "no" you'd say "mou5."

G5 Here are a couple of common ways to answer questions on time: "gau6 nin2" is "last year"; "kam4 yat6" is "yesterday"; "seung6 go3 yut6" is "last month"; "seung6 go3 lai5 baai3" is "last week." Another way to indicate how long ago, you can use the structure, "[number] go3 [months/years/weeks/days/hours/minutes] chin4." If you're speaking in terms of years, days, or minutes you don't need to say "go3." For example, "saam1 go3 yut6 chin4" means "three months ago." "Saam1 nin4 chin4" means "three years ago." Also "gei2" means "several" and you can replace the number with "gei2." Therefore, "gei2 go3 yut6 chin4" means "several months ago." In addition, "chin4" means "ago" so if you drop "chin4" from the previous statements, you're just indicating a time period. For example, "saam1 go3 yut6" means "three months."

G6 Dates are expressed in this structure: "_____ yut6 _____ hou6 _____ nin4" where the first blank is the number of the month, the second blank is the number of the day, and the third blank is the number of the year. For example, "saam1 yut6 m5 hou6 yat1 gau2 baat3 luk6 nin4" is "March 5th, 1986." Sometimes people will say the year first. The year can also be expressed by just saying the last two numbers of the year. For example, for 1986, instead of "yat1 gau2 baat3 luk6 nin4" people will say "baat3 luk6 nin4."

G7 In questions that end in "ma3," the positive answer is just the verb; the negative answer is formed by placing "m4" before the verb.

G8 Hai6 mai6 is a more colloquial way of saying "hai6 m4 hai6." To answer positive, say "hai6"; to answer negative, say "m4 hai6."

Mandarin:

G20 Statements are made into affirmative/negative questions with the addition of "ma5" at the end of the sentence. The affirmative answer is just the verb. The negative answer is formed by placing "bu4 / bu2" in front of the verb. For example, "zhi1 dao4" means "to know", so "zhi1 dao4 ma5" means "do you know?" (Though the pronoun "ni3" for "you" is not used, "you" is assumed to be the subject.) To asnwer "yes", one would say, "zhi1 dao4". To answer "no", one would say, "bu4 zhi1 dao4".

G21 Have/not have questions (subset of affirmative/negative questions) can be formed in the "you3 mei2 you3" format. The positive answer is just the verb, "you3", and the negative answer is "mei2 you3".

G22 Affirmative/negative questions can be asked in the "____ bu4 / bu2 ____" format, with the verb in the blank space. The affirmative asnwer is the verb. The negative answer is "bu4 / bu2"+ verb. For example, "tong4 bu2 tong4" literally asks "[does it] hurt, not hurt?" To answer "yes" one would say, "tong4." To answer "no" one would say, "bu3 tong4."

G23 Affirmative / negative questions can be formed by placing "shi4 fou4" (literally meaning, "yes no" in front of the verb. This is a more formal construction. The affirmative answer is "shi4." The negative answer is "bu2 shi4". ("fou4" is never said as the negative answer, though may be used in writing.)

G24 The character for "not" ? is pronounced as either "bu4" or "bu2" depending on the tone of the word following it. If placed before a word with a first, second, or third tone, it is pronounced "bu4". If placed in front of a word with a fourth tone, it is pronounced "bu2".

G25 Here are a couple of common ways to answer questions on time: "qu4 nian2" is "last year"; "zuo2 tian1" is "yesterday"; "shang4 ge5 yue4" is "last month"; "shang4 ge5 li3 bai4" is "last week." Another way to indicate how long ago, are the following two structures: "[number]+ ge5+ [months/weeks/hours] qian2" and "[number] + [years/days/minutes] qian2". For example, "san1 ge5 yue4 qian2" means "three months ago." "San1 nian2 qian2" means "three years ago." Also "ji3" means "several" and can replace the number in the previous constructions. For example, "ji3 ge5 yue4 qian3" means "several months ago." To answer questions on duration, just drop "qian2", which means "ago." For example, "san1 ge5 yue4" means "three months."

G26 Dates are expressed as month, date, year: "[number] yue4 [number] hao4 [number] nian2." For example, March 5, 1986 would be: "san1 yue4 wu3 hao4 yi1 jiu3 ba1 liu4 nian2." The year can also be expressed with the last two digits only, as in "ba1 liu4 nian2" for '86.

G27 When a phrase is composed of two third tone word, the first one is pronounced as a second tone word. For example, separately ? "ni3" and ? "hao3" are both third tone but because "hao3" follows "ni3", ? is pronounced "ni2", so the phrase sounds like "ni2 hao3".