Chinese-all-day-breakfast/MD/g1-28.md

Alternative Questions using 還是

In Chinese, an alternative question is formed by using 還是 to connect two choices, which can be nouns, noun phrases, verbs, verb phrases, or clauses:

你喜歡紅茶還是綠茶﹖ (nouns)
這本書是你的還是她的﹖ (noun phrases)
下午你來還是不來﹖ (verbs)
你要聽古典音樂還是聽現代音樂﹖ (verb phrases)
今天晚上你來我這兒還是我去你那兒﹖ (clauses)

Note:

1. the two items connected by 還是 are normally parallel in structure; and

2. as with affirmative-negative questions and questions with interrogative words, alternative questions do not have 嗎 at the end.