Chinese grammar by topic › Questions in Chinese: 吗, question words and particles

Questions in Chinese: 吗, question words and particles

Chinese questions keep the word order of the answer. Add 吗 to a statement for a yes/no question, or put a question word where the answer will go: 你喝什么？我喝茶.

The essentials

Yes/no: statement + 吗: 你是学生吗？ Answer by repeating the verb: 是 or 不是.
Question words stay in place: 你去哪儿？他是谁？多少钱？
A不A: 你去不去？是不是 to check; 还是 for 'or' in questions.
Particles carry attitude: 呢 for 'and you?', 吧 when you think you know, 啊 and 嘛 for feeling.

Every lesson on this topic

Each lesson has a full explanation, examples in characters and pinyin you can listen to, and exercises with answers.

A0 (the A0 course)

Yes/no questions with 吗: Yes/no questions with 吗; answering by repeating the verb; 呢 for “and you?”

A1 (the A1 course)

Question words: 什么, 谁, 哪儿, 几, 多少, 怎么: The question word sits where the answer goes: 你喝什么？我喝茶。

A2 (the A2 course)

More ways to ask: 去不去, 是不是, 还是, 好吗, 吧: A不A questions, 是不是 to check, 还是 for 'or', 好吗 and 怎么样 for suggestions, 吧 when you think you know.

B1 (the B1 course)

Sentence particles: 吧, 呢, 啊, 嘛, 啦: The little words at the end of a sentence carry the attitude: suggesting (吧), following up (呢), feeling (啊), stating the obvious (嘛).
Rhetorical questions: 难道…吗, 不是…吗, 怎么能…呢: Questions that are really strong statements: 难道你不知道吗？ means 'Surely you know!'

C1 (the C1 course)

Rhetorical questions and irony: 难道, 哪儿, 还…呢, 什么…不…的: Questions that expect no answer, understatement, sarcasm and dismissive patterns.

In the app, these lessons are taught one idea at a time with audio, practised with questions you can answer in characters or pinyin, and brought back for review.

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