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How to say 'How often' in Cantonese

Rachel Yu

Rachel Yu

— 4 min read

In this post, let's learn how to ask and answer frequency questions.

Question

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The phrase for 'how often' in Cantonese is 幾耐 _一次 (gei2 noi6 _ jat1 ci3).

幾耐 (gei2 noi6) - how long(time)

一次 (jat1 ci3) - once/one time

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We put the verb in the middle according to the context. In the example below, 去 (hoei3) means to go.

你幾耐去一次朋友屋企？ (nei5 gei2 noi6 heoi3 jat1 ci3 pang4 jau5 uk1 kei2?) - How often do you go to your friend's house?

When the verb consists of two words, we put the verb component in the middle and the complimentary noun in the end. If you are not familiar with how the verbs are separated, please read this post below.

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Verb 行山 (hang4 saan1) - hiking 上堂 (soeng5 tong4) - to attend class 煮飯 (zyu2 faan6) - to cook
verb component 行 (hang4) - to walk 上 (soeng5) - to attend 煮 (zyu2) - to cook
complimentary noun 山 (saan1) - mountain 堂 (tong4) - class 飯 (faan6) - rice/meal

你幾耐行一次山？ (nei5 gei2 noi6 hang4 jat1 ci3 saan1) - How often do you hike?

佢哋幾耐上一次堂？ (keoi5 dei6 gei2 noi6 soeng5 jat1 ci3 tong4) - How often do they attend class?

媽媽幾耐煮一次飯？ (maa4 maa1 gei2 noi6 zyu2 jat1 ci3 faan6) - How often does mom cook?

Answer

To answer the 幾耐 _一次 (gei2 noi6 _ jat1 ci3) question, simply take out the question word 幾耐 (gei2 noi6) in the question and sub in the answer.

For example, if the action occurs once a week, your answer would be 一個星期 (jat1 go3 sing1 kei4). If it was once a day, it would be 一日 (jat1 jat6). You get the idea.

Below are some more examples.

我一年行一次山。 (ngo5 jat1 nin4 hang4 jat1 ci3 saan1) - I hike once a year.

佢哋兩個星期上一次堂。 (keoi5 dei6 loeng5 go3 sing1 kei4 soeng5 jat1 ci3 tong4) - They attend class once every two weeks.

媽媽三日煮一次飯。 (maa1 maa1 saam1 jat6 zyu2 jat1 ci3 faan6) - Mom cooks once every three days.

P.S. 幾耐 _一次 (gei2 noi6 _ jat1 ci3) IS NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH 一次_幾耐(jat1 ci3 _ gei2 noi6)!

一次_幾耐(jat1 ci3 _ gei2 noi6) is asking the duration of one event, instead of frequency.

Variations

If instead of asking 'how often', we want to ask 'how many times...in a given period of time', we can follow the same structure but change up the question words a bit.

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(any period of time)_幾多次 (gei2 do1 ci3)

Below are some examples.

刷牙 (caat3 ngaa4) - to brush teeth

-你一日刷幾多次牙？ (nei5 jat1 jat6 caat3 gei2 do1 ci3 ngaa4?) - How many times do you brush your teeth a day?

-我一日刷兩次牙。 (ngo5 jat1 jat6 caat3 loeng5 ci3 ngaa4) - I brush my teeth twice a day.

你一個星期打幾多次籃球？(nei5 jat1 go3 sing1 kei4 daa2 gei2 do1 ci3 laam4 kau4?) - How many times a week do you play basketball?

我一個星期打三次籃球。(ngo5 jat1 go3 sing1 kei4 daa2 saam1 ci3 laam4 kau4.) - I play basketball three times a week.

Your turn!

Exercise 1: Form these 'how often' questions

  1. How often do you drink tea?
  2. How often do you go to the grocery store?
  3. How often do you see friends?

Hints:

飲 (jam2) - to drink

茶 (caa4) - tea

去 (heoi3) - to go

超級市場 (ciu1 kap1 si5 coeng4) - supermarket

見 (gin3) - to see/to meet

朋友 (pang4 jau5) - friend

Exercise 2: Answer the questions you formed

  1. I drink tea once a day.
  2. I go to the grocery store twice a week.
  3. I see my friends once every half year.

Hints:

日 (jat6) - day

星期 (sing1 kei4) - week

年 (nin4) - year

Exercise 3: Form these 'How many times' questions

  1. How many times do you exercise in a week?
  2. How many times do you feed your cat in a day?
  3. How many times do you get gas in a month?

Hints:

Verb 做運動 (zou6 wan6 dung6) - to exercise 餵貓 (wai3 maau1) - to feed cats 入油 (jap6 jau4) - to refuel
verb component 做 (zou6) - to do 餵 (wai3) - to feed 入 (jap6) - to enter/put in
complimentary noun 運動 (wan6 dung6) - exercise 貓 (maau1) - cat 油 (jau4) - oil/gas

Exercise 4: Answer the questions you formed

  1. I exercise 5 times a week.
  2. I feed my cat 3 times a day.
  3. I get gas 2 times a month.

Answers

Exercise 1

  1. 你幾耐飲一次茶？(nei5 gei2 noi6 jam2 jat1 ci3 caa4?)
  2. 你幾耐去一次超級市場？(nei5 gei2 noi6 heoi3 jat1 ci3 ciu1 kap1 si5 coeng4?)
  3. 你幾耐見一次朋友？(nei5 gei2 noi6 gin3 jat1 ci3 pang4 jau5?)

Exercise 2

  1. 我一日飲一次茶。(ngo5 jat1 jat6 jam2 jat1 ci3 caa4.)
  2. 我兩個星期去一次超級市場。(ngo5 loeng5 go3 sing1 kei4 heoi3 jat1 ci3 ciu1 kap1 si5 coeng4.)
  3. 我半年見一次朋友。(ngo5 bun3 nin4 gin3 jat1 ci3 pang4 jau5.)

Exercise 3

  1. 你一個星期做幾多次運動？(nei5 jat1 go3 sing1 kei4 zou6 gei2 do1 ci3 wan6 dung6?)
  2. 你一日餵幾多次貓？(nei5 jat1 jat6 wai3 gei2 do1 ci3 maau1?)
  3. 你一個月入幾多次油？(nei5 jat1 go3 jyut6 jap6 gei2 do1 ci3 jau4?)

Exercise 4

  1. 我一個星期做五次運動。(ngo5 jat1 go3 sing1 kei4 zou6 ng5 ci3 wan6 dung6.)
  2. 我一日餵三次貓。(ngo5 jat1 jat6 wai3 saam1 ci3 maau1.)
  3. 我一個月入兩次油。(ngo5 jat1 go3 jyut6 jap6 loeng5 ci3 jau4.)

In the next post, we will explore how to answer frequency questions with frequency words.

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