Cantonese yes-or-no questions: 有冇, 係咪 and 可唔可以

Before choosing a pattern, finish this thought in English: I need to know whether there is something, whether my understanding is right, or whether I can do something. This makes the Cantonese choice more concrete. A shop can have an item even when you are not allowed to try it; those are two different questions.

CUHK’s grammar companion distinguishes existential questions, copular questions and repeated positive-negative patterns. The examples here apply that distinction to short everyday exchanges. They are not three interchangeable ways of attaching a question mark.

有冇 can ask about possession or existence. In 仲有冇得平呀, however, the whole phrase 有冇得平 asks whether there is room to make the price cheaper. Learn that longer unit rather than treating every word after 有冇 as a physical object.

The clip 阿仔，有冇贏呀 asks whether the son won. It shows why the beginner availability rule is a starting point, not a complete description of every 有冇 question. Keep a note of the action or noun that follows the pattern.

係咪 is useful when you are checking a claim: is this real, is that right, is this the thing we mean? The answer confirms or rejects that claim. 可唔可以 puts a proposed action on the table. With 搭枱, the action is sharing a table; the speaker is asking whether that is acceptable.

Keep the action together when practising: 可唔可以 / 搭枱 / 呀. Then say it without the practice pauses. The written example below is a short reply for practice, not an additional line recorded in the clip.

For 呢個辣唔辣㗎, the relevant contrast is spicy versus not spicy, so 辣 or 唔辣 answers the content. Replying 係 to every question because English would use yes hides that relationship. Build a pair: 辣唔辣 → 辣／唔辣.

Do not add every question device you know to one sentence. Start with an attested complete question, keep its ending, and change only a word you understand. When you meet a negative question later, listen to the proposition carefully instead of assuming an English yes/no answer will be unambiguous.