Yes/no questions with 吗
Yes/no questions with 吗; answering by repeating the verb; 呢 for “and you?”
Part of the free A0 Chinese course (about HSK 1–2). Examples are in Simplified characters with pinyin; press the speaker to hear one with your device's Chinese voice.
A yes/no question is one you can answer with "yes" or "no": Are you a student? Do you drink coffee? In Chinese these are easy to make.
Add 吗 at the end
Take a statement and put 吗 (ma, neutral tone) at the end. Change nothing else: no word moves, and no extra word like English do.
| Statement | Question |
|---|---|
| 你是学生。(Nǐ shì xuésheng.) You are a student. | 你是学生吗？(Nǐ shì xuésheng ma?) Are you a student? |
| 你很忙。(Nǐ hěn máng.) You're busy. | 你忙吗？(Nǐ máng ma?) Are you busy? |
| 你喝咖啡。(Nǐ hē kāfēi.) You drink coffee. | 你喝咖啡吗？(Nǐ hē kāfēi ma?) Do you drink coffee? |
- 你是学生吗？(Nǐ shì xuésheng ma?)Are you a student?
- 他是中国人吗？(Tā shì Zhōngguórén ma?)Is he Chinese?
- 你忙吗？(Nǐ máng ma?)Are you busy?
- 你喝咖啡吗？(Nǐ hē kāfēi ma?)Do you drink coffee?
Your voice doesn't need to rise: 吗 already makes it a question. Write a Chinese question mark at the end: ？
Answering: repeat the verb
Chinese has no all-purpose word for "yes" or "no". You answer with the verb or adjective from the question: say it for "yes", put 不 before it for "no".
| Question | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| 你是学生吗？(Nǐ shì xuésheng ma?) | 是。(Shì.) | 不是。(Bú shì.) |
| 你喝咖啡吗？(Nǐ hē kāfēi ma?) | 喝。(Hē.) | 不喝。(Bù hē.) |
| 你忙吗？(Nǐ máng ma?) | 很忙。(Hěn máng.) | 不忙。(Bù máng.) |
- 是，我是学生。(Shì, wǒ shì xuésheng.)Yes, I'm a student.
- 不是，他是日本人。(Bú shì, tā shì Rìběnrén.)No, he's Japanese.
- 喝，我很喜欢咖啡。(Hē, wǒ hěn xǐhuan kāfēi.)Yes, I really like coffee.
对 (duì, "right") also works as "yes" when you agree that something is true: 你是王明吗？对。
呢: "and you?"
To bounce a question back, use a name or pronoun + 呢 (ne): "and you?", "what about him?".
- 我很好，你呢？(Wǒ hěn hǎo, nǐ ne?)I'm fine, and you?
- 我是英国人，你呢？(Wǒ shì Yīngguórén, nǐ ne?)I'm British, what about you?
On its own, with nothing said before, name + 呢 asks where someone is: 妈妈呢？(Māma ne?) = Where's Mum?
No 吗 with question words
Questions with a question word such as 什么 (shénme, what) are already questions, so they take no 吗: 你叫什么名字？ (What's your name?). More in Question words: 什么, 谁, 哪儿, 几, 多少, 怎么.
Common mistakes
你叫什么名字吗？A question with 什么 needs no 吗.是你学生吗？Don't move the verb to the front as in English: 你是学生吗？你吗？for "and you?": use 呢: 你呢？- Answering 你喝咖啡吗？ with
是: repeat the verb: 喝 or 不喝. 你是学生吗。A question ends with ？, not 。
Practice
- 你是医生_____？(Nǐ shì yīshēng ___?)
Show the answer
吗
- Turn 他是老师。(Tā shì lǎoshī.) into a yes/no question.Options: 他是老师吗？(Tā shì lǎoshī ma?) · 是他老师吗？(Shì tā lǎoshī ma?) · 他吗是老师？(Tā ma shì lǎoshī?)
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他是老师吗？(Tā shì lǎoshī ma?) — Just add 吗 at the end; nothing moves.
- Answer “yes”: 你喝茶吗？(Nǐ hē chá ma?)Options: 喝。(Hē.) · 吗。(Ma.) · 是喝。(Shì hē.)
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喝。(Hē.) — Repeat the verb from the question: 喝.
- Answer “no”: 你是美国人吗？(Nǐ shì Měiguórén ma?)Options: 不是。(Bú shì.) · 不吗。(Bù ma.) · 没有。(Méiyǒu.)
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不是。(Bú shì.) — Repeat the verb 是 with 不 before it.