Lesson 7

 


 

       

 

Questions

 

When you are asking a question in Chinese you do not change the order of the sentence. This is very different from other western languages.

Therefore, the structure of a sentence with a question and the structure of an affirmative statement are the same.

Questions are expressed with interrogative particles.

Interrogative particle (ma5)

Interrogative particle (ne5)

(ma5) is put at the end of the sentence and the answer should be Yes or No.

For example:

Ta1 shi4 ni3de5 lao3shi1 ma5 ? Shi4

他 是 你的 老师 ?

Is he your teacher? Yes

 

 ------ ooo O ooo ------

 

Ni3 neng2 lai2 ma5 ? Bu4, wo3 bu4neng2.

你 能 来 ? 不,我不能。

Can you come? No, I can't

 

------ ooo O ooo ------

 

Ni3 xiang3 he1shui3 ma5 ? Shi4, wo3 xiang3.

你 想 喝水 ? 是,我想。

Do you want to drink water? Yes I do.

 

(ne5) is put at the end of the question and the answer to the question has to be specific.

For example:

wo3 bu2hui4 shuo1 han4yu3, ni3 ne5? Wo3 ye3 bu2hui4.

我 不会 说 汉语, 你 ? 我也不会。

I don't know how to speak chinese, do you? I don't know how to speak chinese either. (specific answer)

 

------ ooo O ooo ------

 

Shui2 shi4 ni3de5 lao3shi1 (ne5) ? Wo3de5 lao3shi1 shi4 Carlos.

谁 是 你的 老师 ( ) ? 我的 老师 是 卡洛斯。

Who is your teacher? My teacher is Charles (specific answer)

Note: you can omit the question particle

when there is another interrogative particle like who, when, what, which, how much, etc.

 

Vocabulary

English

Chinese (phonetic)

Chinese (written)

     

Question word

Ma5

Questions word

Ne5

To be

Shi4

Teacher

Lao3shi1

老师

To be able

Neng2

To come

Lai2

To want, to miss

Xiang3

To drink

He1

Water

Shui3

To know

Hui4

To talk

Shuo1

Also

Ye3

 

Chinese Character of the day

zhong4 (Crowd ): 3 people together is a crowd