Chinese Questions

Chinese Questions

If you're trying to learn Chinese Questions which is also called Mandarin, check our courses about Questions and interrogative expressions... to help you with your Chinese grammar. Try to concentrate on the lesson and notice the pattern that occurs each time the word changes its place. Also don't forget to check the rest of our other lessons listed on Learn Chinese. Enjoy the rest of the lesson!

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Chinese Questions

Learning the Chinese Questions is very important because its structure is used in every day conversation. The more you practice the subject, the closer you get to mastering the Chinese language. But first we need to know what the role of Questions is in the structure of the grammar in Chinese.

Chinese questions may be either a linguistic expression used to make a request for information, or else the request itself made by such an expression. Usually it starts with why, how, where, when ... Questions are made by putting ma at the and of a sentence (ni hao ma How are you?). Or by using the negative and affirmative together like ni qu bu qu (are you going or not?). Here are some examples:

English QuestionsChinese Questions
Questionsyí wèn  - 疑问
how?rú hé？  - 如何？
what?shén mē？  - 什么？
who?shì shuí？  - 是谁？
why?wèi shén me？  - 为什么？
where?zài nǎ lǐ？  - 在哪里？

As you can see from the example above, the structure of the Questions in Chinese has a logical pattern. Locate the Questions above and see how it works with the rest of the sentence in Mandarin.

Grammar Tips:

In Mandarin there are two basic way to ask a question: one is by adding the question particle at the end of a statement.  For example;  ni leng (you cold), add a question particle, ma, that is ni leng ma? And it is (Are you cold?).  The other method is to make it a choice.  Ni leng bu leng? (You cold not cold?)


List of Questions in Chinese

Below is a list of the Questions and interrogative expressions in Chinese placed in a table. Memorizing this table will help you add very useful and important words to your Chinese vocabulary.

English QuestionsChinese Questions
where is he?tā;tuó zài  nǎ er？  - 他在哪儿？
what is this?zhè shì  shén mē？  - 这是什么？
why are you sad?nǐ  wèi shén me  shāng xīn？  - 你为什么伤心？
how do you want to pay?nǐ xiǎng  rú hé  fù kuǎn？  - 你想如何付款？
can I come?wǒ  kě yǐ lái ma ?  - 我可以来吗 ?
is he sleeping?tā;tuó  zhèng zài  shuì jiào ma？  - 他正在睡觉吗？
do you know me?nǐ  rèn shí wǒ ma？  - 你认识我吗？
do you have my book?nǐ ná le;liǎo;liào  wǒ de shū ma？  - 你拿了我的书吗？
how big is it?tā yǒu  duō dà？  - 它有多大？
can I help you?wǒ  kě yǐ bāng nǐ ma？  - 我可以帮你吗？
can you help me?nǐ néng bāng wǒ ma？  - 你能帮我吗？
do you speak English?nǐ jiǎng  yīng yǔ ma？  - 你讲英语吗？
how far is this?lí;róu  zhè lǐ duō yuǎn？  - 离这里多远？
what time is it?xiàn zài jǐ;jī diǎn le;liǎo;liào ?  - 现在几点了 ?
how much is this?zhè gè  duō shǎo qián？  - 这个多少钱？
what is your name?nǐ jiào  shén mē  míng zì？  - 你叫什么名字？
where do you live?nǐ zhù  zài nǎ lǐ？  - 你住在哪里？

Questions and interrogative expressions have a very important role in Chinese, therefore they need very special attention. Once you're done with the Mandarin Questions, you might want to check the rest of our Chinese lessons here: Learn Chinese. Don't forget to bookmark this page.

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