Learn how to make questions and question tags in Chinese
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Intro |
|---|
| Michael: How are questions made in Chinese? |
| Dehua: And what about question tags? |
| Michael: At ChineseClass101.com, we hear these questions often. In this scenario, Zhenzhen Zhou is asking his neighbor whether they'll join their party. Mark Lee wants to join but is hoping for confirmation from his wife. Zhenzhen asks, |
| "Are you coming to our party?" |
| 周 贞珍: 你们会来我的聚会吗？ (Nǐmen huì lái wǒ de jùhuì ma?) |
| Dialogue |
| Zhenzhen: 你们会来我的聚会吗？ (Nǐmen huì lái wǒ de jùhuì ma?) |
| Mark Lee: 我们会来的，不是吗？ (Wǒmen huì lái de, bùshì ma?) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Zhenzhen: 你们会来我的聚会吗？ (Nǐmen huì lái wǒ de jùhuì ma?) |
| Michael: "Are you coming to our party?" |
| Mark Lee: 我们会来的，不是吗？ (Wǒmen huì lái de, bùshì ma?) |
| Michael: "We are coming, aren't we?" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: One of the most important things to know in any language you learn is how to ask and answer questions. The first step is to know your basic question words vocabulary. That means words like who, what, where, when, and why. The Chinese word for ‘questions' is |
| Dehua: 问题 (wèntí). |
| Michael: And, in this lesson, we will learn what the most common question words are and how to use them. We will also learn all about question tags in Chinese. |
| Now, the simplest of questions are those that require a yes or no answer. Right? That is true in English, and it is also true in Chinese! The really great news is that, in Chinese, it's very easy to form a yes-or-no question. All you need is the particle |
| Dehua: 吗 (ma) |
| Michael: meaning "is." To demonstrate, let us turn a simple sentence into a question. |
| Dehua: [NORMAL] 你喜欢这个。(Nǐ xǐhuan zhège.) [SLOWLY] 你喜欢这个。 |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Michael: This means "You like this." To change it into the question, "Do you like this?," all we have to do is add a particle at the end. Listen to how it sounds now: |
| Dehua: [NORMAL] 你喜欢这个吗？(Nǐ xǐhuan zhège ma?) [SLOWLY] 你喜欢这个吗？ |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Michael: Let us try another example. Listen carefully, and repeat, if you want. |
| Dehua: [NORMAL] 他在学中文(Tā zài xué Zhōngwén.) [SLOWLY] 他在学中文。 |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Michael: This means "He is studying Chinese." As a question, it becomes |
| Dehua: [NORMAL] 他在学中文吗？(Tā zài xué Zhōngwén ma?) [SLOWLY] 他在学中文吗？ |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Michael: "Is he studying Chinese?" Using this very simple method, you will be able to ask any yes-or-no question you want to! |
| Recall 1 |
| Michael: Let us take a closer look at the dialogue. Do you remember how Zhenzhen says, "Are you coming to our party? |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Dehua: 你们会来我的聚会吗？(Nǐmen huì lái wǒ de jùhuì ma?) |
| Michael: Did you hear the word |
| Dehua: 吗 (ma) |
| Michael: at the end? If we take that word away, this sentence will no longer be a question, but a statement. Can you guess what it will say? |
| Dehua: 你们会来我的聚会 (Nǐmen huì lái wǒ de jùhuì.) |
| Michael: This means "You will come to my party." Once again, we learn that to form a yes-or-no question in Chinese, all you have to do is add one word at the end, and that word is |
| Dehua: 吗 (ma) |
| Michael: You could think of this word as a question mark, as it has a similar function. Just don't forget to use a questioning tone of voice, too! |
| But what about asking questions that require specific answers? For these, you should learn the most useful Chinese question words.The first word you will hear and use often is |
| Dehua: [NORMAL] 什么 (shénme) [SLOWLY] 什么 |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Michael: meaning "What?" In a sentence, it sounds like this |
| Dehua: 她喜欢什么？(Tā xǐhuān shénme?) |
| Michael: meaning "What does she like?" There is actually an easy trick you can follow to construct a simple question. First, think about how the answer might sound. For example, |
| Dehua: 她喜欢蓝莓。 (Tā xǐhuān lánméi.) |
| Michael: meaning "She likes blueberries." Then, choose the question word you want. In this case, it is "what." Now, replace the part you are asking about with the question word. You will then be asking "She likes what?" |
| Dehua: 她喜欢什么？(Tā xǐhuān shénme?) |
| Michael: As you can hear, the question word came at the end of the sentence, just like in the yes-or-no questions. However, not all question words go at the end of a sentence. It depends on what you are asking! For example, the word |
| Dehua: [NORMAL] 什么时候 (shénme shíhou) [SLOWLY] 什么时候 |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Michael: meaning "when?" can be used in a sentence like this |
| Dehua: 他什么时候去上海？(Tā shénme shíhòu qù Shànghǎi?) |
| Michael: "When is he going to Shanghai?" in Chinese, and time phrases usually go before the verb. |
| Our next question word is |
| Dehua: [NORMAL] 谁 (shéi) [SLOWLY] 谁 |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Michael: meaning "who." It sounds like this in a sentence |
| Dehua: 谁在说中文？(Shéi zài shuō Zhōngwén?) |
| Michael: meaning "Who is speaking Chinese?" This time, we put the question word at the start. Do you know why? It's because "who" is the subject, and the subject usually comes first! |
| And now, our last Chinese question word is |
| Dehua: [NORMAL] 哪里 (nǎlǐ) [SLOWLY] 哪里 |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Michael: This means "Where?" and you can use it in a sentence like this: |
| Dehua: 他们在哪里购物？(Tāmen zài nǎlǐ gòuwù?) |
| Michael: meaning "Where are they shopping?" Just like time phrases, place phrases should also go before the verb. So, in this case, the literal translation is "They are where shopping?" |
| Recall 2 |
| Michael: Let's go back to the dialogue and take a look at our second sentence. Do you remember how Mark Lee says, "We are coming, aren't we?" |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Dehua as Mark Lee: 我们会来的，不是吗？(Wǒmen huì lái de, búshì ma?) |
| Michael: What is different about this sentence? It has a question tag at the end. That is, the words |
| Dehua: 不是吗 ? (búshì ma?) |
| Michael: meaning "Aren't we?" In Chinese, we use tag questions when we want confirmation, agreement, or permission. In the dialogue, Mark is sure they are going to the party, but he wants to hear confirmation from his wife. |
| So, how do question tags work? A statement is turned into a question by adding a short interrogative phrase on the end, which is known as a tag. In the dialogue, Mark starts with the statement, "We are coming," and then turns it into a question by adding "aren't we?" |
| Now, Chinese has numerous question tags, but, in this lesson, we will just look at the most common ones. We can start with the one Mark Lee used |
| Dehua: [NORMAL] 不是吗？(bùshì ma?) [SLOWLY] 不是吗？ |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Michael: literally meaning "Is not?" This kind of question tag consists of a verb plus |
| Dehua: 吗 (ma) |
| Michael: Yes—that is the same particle we learned in the beginning! After all, a tag question requires a yes-or-no answer. You can use this question tag when you think you know the answer to something, but want to get confirmation. |
| Now, let's say that we have a similar situation, except this time, we are more certain about the answer, and all we want is the other person's agreement. For example, you and your friend are admiring someone, and one of you comments, |
| Dehua: 不错是吧? (Búcuò, shì ba?) |
| Michael: which means "Not bad, right?" In this case, we used the question tag |
| Dehua: [NORMAL] 是吧? (shì ba) [SLOWLY] 是 吧? |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Michael: which is a verb plus the particle |
| Dehua: 吧 (ba) |
| Michael: Another very common question tag is |
| Dehua: [NORMAL] 是不是？(shì bu shì?) [SLOWLY] 是不是？ |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Michael: You have probably already heard Chinese people using this phrase. It's used to get the confirmation if what is said earlier is correct or not. For example, if we want to say "You've got a cold, is that right?," we can use this question tag like this: |
| Dehua: 你感冒了，是不是？(Nǐ gǎnmàole, shì bushì?) |
| Michael: "You've got a cold, don't you?" |
| The last question tag for this lesson is |
| Dehua: [NORMAL] 好吗？(Hǎo ma?) [SLOWLY] 好吗？ |
| [pause 3 seconds] |
| Michael: which means "Okay?" This tag makes a statement or request more polite, and, in Chinese culture, it is used for asking permission. For example, if you want to make a suggestion such as "Let's go to your house," you can add on the question tag "okay?" Your more polite suggestion will then be |
| Dehua: 我们去你家好吗？ (Wǒmen qù nǐ jiā, hǎo ma?) |
| Michael: "Let's go to your house, okay?" |
| Expansion |
| Michael: Now that you know how questions are formed in Chinese, we can have some fun practicing and answering some common questions that you will hear often. The first one is: |
| Dehua: [NORMAL] 你叫什么名字？(Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?) [SLOWLY] 你叫什么名字？ |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Michael: "What is your name?" The literal translation from Chinese is "You call what name?" which is easy to remember, as it sticks to the subject-verb-object rule. Next is this question |
| Dehua: [NORMAL] 你从哪里来？(Nǐ cóng nǎlǐ lái?) [SLOWLY] 你从哪里来？ |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Michael: meaning "Where are you from?" Another question you might ask a new friend is: |
| Dehua: [NORMAL] 你会说中文吗？(Nǐ huì shuō Zhōngwén ma?) [SLOWLY] 你会说中文吗？ |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Michael: which means, "Do you speak Chinese?" Aha! Did you notice the yes-or-no question word at the end? Actually, it's more likely that this question will be directed at you! |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Dehua: 再见！ (zàijiàn!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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