What is the Mandarin equivalent of Cantonese's 一係 A 一係 B?

Question

In Cantonese, you can use 一係 to present two options. For instance, you can say:

"Either eat or go" => 一係食一係走

In Mandarin, someone said 或者 is similar but lacks the same emphasis and force.

In other words, Mandarin speakers wouldn't say 或者吃或者走

So what's the Mandarin equivalent for 一係?

monalisa · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-08 02:41:03Z

6

An equivalent expression is: 要麽 before each option

要麽吃，要麽走

Either eat or go.

要麽你去，要麽他去，我不能去。

Either you go or he goes; I can't.

answered Sep 8, 2017 at 2:41

monalisa

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Since 係 is the Cantonese counterpart of 是 in Mandarin, can we just replace 係 with 是 in this structure? For example, [一係食一係走" --> "一是吃, 一是走"] ;[一係你去一係佢去" --> "一是你去, 一是他去]
– Tang Ho ♦
Sep 8, 2017 at 3:42
Mmm... never heard of "一是...一是..." in Mandarin. This expression seems to be southern - Cantonese "一係...一係...", some Min dialects/languages, such as Hokkien, Taiwanese, Longdu, use "一是...一是...". I am not familiar enough with other language families to know if it's used anywhere else. Perhaps others can chime in.
– monalisa
Sep 8, 2017 at 4:26
Which demonstrates that Cantonese isn't just Mandarin with a few interchangeable characters and funky tones...
– dda
Sep 8, 2017 at 4:39
一是... 一是... is understandable I think, though it's not used often. I did hear the lines on TV, something like, 一个是生，一个是死，你自己选择。The same concept here, 一个是吃，一个是走，which offers two options for people to choose from.
– dan
Sep 8, 2017 at 4:50
my mandarin friend said you can replace 一係 with 不要. so it would be like 不要吃，不要走
– Crashalot
Sep 10, 2017 at 2:27

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