Question and answers

Question words

吗 ma

It is very easy to form Chinese questions. One of the question formulas is to place the interrogative (question particle) 吗 ma at the end of a statement. For instance, if 吗 ma is placed at the end of 你 好 nĭ hăo hello (lit. you are well) it turns the statement into a question:


你好 吗 ?
Nĭ hăo ma ?
How are you? (lit. Are you well?).

If 吗 ma is placed at end of 你是老师 you are (a) teacher , the statement becomes a question:


你是 老师 吗 ?
Nĭ shì lăoshī ma ?
Are you ( a) teacher?

Interrogatives

  1. Using the particle ma at the end of statement (see lesson 2, p.27)

    你去看朋友吗？ Are you going to see a friend?

    The answer generally repeats whole sentence (for politeness) or just the main verb.

    我去看朋友。 I am going to see a friend.

    去 Yes.

    NB If you have ma at the end of a sentence, it would be wrong to use any other interrogative word in the same sentence as well.

  2. Using the particle ne as an interrogative (it has other functions too) at the end of a noun phrase (lesson 2 p.10) means ‘how about ...?’ or ‘with reference to’.

    你哥哥呢？ What about your brother?

    在图书馆看书的人呢？ What about the readers in the library?

  3. Interrogative words such as shei, na, and shenme (lessons 6 and 7)

    谁來？ Who is coming?

    他是哪国人？ What nationality is he?

    这是什么？ What is this?

    她在哪儿？ Where is she?

    duoshao, and ji (see p.170 note 3)

    你有多少书？ How many books do you have?

    你有几个哥哥？ How many older brothers do you have?

  4. Affirmative-negative form of questions (lesson 13, p.133)

    你是不是学生？ Are you a student?

    你喝不喝茶？ Do you drink tea?

  5. Tag questions: haoma? which turns the statement it follows into a suggestion expecting the answer ‘yes’, ‘what about?’ (lesson 17, p.222)

    你晚上来我这儿，好吗？ What about coming here tonight?

    shima? which turns the statement it follows into a request for confirmation, ‘Isn’t it the case that...‘ (see p.251-2 note 2)

    你晚上来我这儿，是吗？ You‘re coming to my place tonight, arn’t you?

  6. Questions offering alternatives, ‘either...or...’ (lesson 19, p.257-8) the words giving the alternative are placed after haishi

    1. a. with verbs

      你来还是去？ Are you coming or going?

    2. b. with nouns as objects

      你看中文书还是法文书？ Are you reading a Chinese or French book?

    3. c. with complements

      这是你的还是我的？ Is this yours or mine? It’s mine.

      他是学生还是老师？ Is he a student or a teacher? A student.

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Assignments

Translate the following sentences into Chinese (2, ma)

  1. Are you busy?
  2. Is your older brother well?
  3. Are you all very well?
  4. Are you my friend?