\tA common way to form questions in Chinese is to first use a verb in the positive, then repeat the same verb in its negative form. These are called "affirmative-negative questions" or "alternative questions." The structure is:<\/p>\n
\tVerb Not Verb<\/p>\n
\t \tNote that the question provides the listener with both possible answers: it's either "Verb" or "\u4e0d Verb."<\/p>\n
\tFor example:<\/strong> \t<\/p>\n \tAdjective Not Adjective<\/strong> \tAgain, the question provides the listener with both possible answers: it's either "Adjective" or "\u4e0d Adjective."<\/p>\n \tThese are something like adding tag questions in English, in this case "Are you an adult or not?" If you wanted to translate it very literally, it would be, "Are you or are you not an adult?" In any case, the structure is a very common way to ask questions in Chinese.<\/p>\n \tFor example:<\/strong> \t<\/p>\n \tVerb Not Verb with an Object \tIf you want to add an object after the verb, the general sentence structure is: \t<\/p>\n \tSome examples:<\/strong> \t\u6709 in positive-negative questions<\/strong> \tThe possible answers are: "\u6709" or "\u6ca1\u6709."<\/p>\n \tThe questions could be be asking about current possession ("do you have it or not?"), or to ask about verbs in the past ("did you do it or not?").<\/p>\n \tFor example:<\/strong> \t<\/p>\n \tTwo-character verbs in positive-negative questions \tAll of the verbs used so far have been single-character verbs. Using two-characters verbs in positive-negative questions is slightly trickier. You usually put \u4e0d after the first character, then put the entire verb. For example \u559c\u4e0d\u559c\u6b22 is the usual question form of \u559c\u6b22. You can repeat the whole two-character verb twice, but it's more common (and more elegant) to insert \u4e0d after the first character. (The same is true of two-character adjectives.) For example:<\/p>\n \t\u559c\u6b22 \u4e0d \u559c\u6b22 (the whole word is repeated)
\t\u4f60 \u662f \u4e0d \u662f \u4e2d\u56fd\u4eba\uff1f<\/div>\n
\tIt can also be done with adjectives (adjectives often behave like verbs in Chinese): \t<\/p>\n
\t\u597d \u4e0d \u597d\uff1f<\/div>\n
\t<\/strong><\/p>\n
\tPositive negative questions<\/p>\n\n\n
\n \t\t\t\tSubject<\/th>\n \t\t\t\tVerb<\/em><\/th>\n \t\t\t\t\u4e0d<\/em><\/th>\n \t\t\t\tVerb<\/em><\/th>\n \t\t\t\tObject<\/th>\n \t\t\t\t <\/th>\n \t\t\t\tTranslation<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n \n \t\t\t\t\u5979<\/td>\n \t\t\t\t\u662f<\/em><\/td>\n \t\t\t\t\u4e0d<\/em><\/td>\n \t\t\t\t\u662f<\/em><\/td>\n \t\t\t\t\u4e2d\u56fd\u4eba<\/td>\n \t\t\t\t\uff1f<\/td>\n \t\t\t\tIs she Chinese?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \t\t\t\t\u4ed6<\/td>\n \t\t\t\t\u5403<\/em><\/td>\n \t\t\t\t\u4e0d<\/em><\/td>\n \t\t\t\t\u5403<\/em><\/td>\n \t\t\t\t\u8089<\/td>\n \t\t\t\t\uff1f<\/td>\n \t\t\t\tDoes he eat meat?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \t\t\t\t\u4f60<\/td>\n \t\t\t\t\u60f3<\/em><\/td>\n \t\t\t\t\u4e0d<\/em><\/td>\n \t\t\t\t\u60f3<\/em><\/td>\n \t\t\t\t\u6211<\/td>\n \t\t\t\t\uff1f<\/td>\n \t\t\t\tDo you miss me?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\tBecause the verb \u6709 is negated with \u6ca1 and not \u4e0d, the structure for positive-negative questions with \u6709 is: \t<\/p>\n
\t\u4f60 \u6709 \u6ca1\u6709 \u501f \u6211\u7684 \u94b1\uff1f<\/div>\n
\t<\/strong><\/p>\n
\t\u559c \u4e0d \u559c\u6b22 (only the first character is repeated)<\/p>\n