你肚唔肚餓？
nei5 tou5 m4 tou5 ngo6?
In Cantonese, "are you hungry?" is expressed as 你肚唔肚餓？ (nei5 tou5 m4 tou5 ngo6?)
This phrase is used to ask if someone feels a need to eat food. When answering, you can say 肚餓 or 好肚餓 to mean you are hungry or very hungry or 唔肚餓 to indicate you are not hungry.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase 你肚唔肚餓？ literally translates to "You stomach not stomach hungry?", where 肚 means stomach and 餓 means hungry.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Hong Kong, you may commonly hear the variation 你肚餓未啊？, whereas in Guangzhou, you might hear 你餓未呀？
How do you pronounce it?
nei5 tou5 m4 tou5 ngo6?
Did you know?
- In Cantonese culture, asking 你肚唔肚餓？ is often less of a question and more of a warm greeting or a way to show care, similar to how 'how are you' is used in English.
- If you are extremely hungry, you might say you are 'hungry to the point of death' (餓到死), a common Cantonese hyperbolic expression.
- In Hong Kong, the variation 你肚餓未啊？ uses the word 未, meaning 'not yet', which frames hunger as an event that is expected to happen eventually.
Examples in context
- 你肚唔肚餓？nei5 dou6 m4 dou6 ngo6?Are you hungry?
- 喂，你肚唔肚餓？wai3, nei5 dou6 m4 dou6 ngo6?Hey, are you hungry?
Example conversation
Two friends are walking together in the afternoon.
- 嘉欣 Ka Yan子健，你肚唔肚餓？zi2 gin6, nei5 tou2 m4 tou2 ngo6?Zi Jian, are you hungry?
- 子健 Tsz Kin我好肚餓，我想食嘢。ngo5 hou2 tou2 ngo6, ngo5 soeng2 sik6 je5.I'm very hungry, I want to eat something.
- 嘉欣 Ka Yan好呀，我哋去食飯啦。hou2 aa3, ngo5 dei6 heoi3 sik6 faan6 laa1.Okay, let's go eat a meal.
- 子健 Tsz Kin好，我哋快啲去啦。hou2, ngo5 dei6 faai3 di1 heoi3 laa1.Okay, let's go quickly.
