\tAs mentioned above, \u5417 is a question particle that is used to turn statements into yes-no questions. What exactly does that mean? A yes-no question is also known as a “binary question” or a “polar question”. This simply means that it’s a question that can only be answered with “yes” or “no”. In other words, it’s not an open question.<\/p>\n
\tThe question particle \u5417 is the easiest way to form this kind of question in Mandarin Chinese. All you do is put it on the end of a plain statement, and the statement becomes a yes-no question. Have a look at some examples:<\/p>\n
\t\u4f60\u662f\u674e\u5148\u751f\u5417\uff1f
\tN\u01d0 shì L\u01d0 Xi\u0101nsh\u0113ng ma?
\tAre you Mr Li?
\t\u4f60\u4f1a\u4e2d\u6587\u5417\uff1f
\tN\u01d0 huì Zh\u014dngwén ma?
\tDo you speak Chinese?
\t\u8fd9\u91cc\u6709\u6d17\u624b\u95f4\u5417\uff1f
\tZhèli y\u01d2u x\u01d0sh\u01d2uji\u0101n ma?
\tIs there a toilet here?
\tThose would all be valid sentences without \u5417. They would just be plain statements:<\/p>\n
\t\u4f60\u662f\u674e\u5148\u751f\u3002
\tN\u01d0 shì L\u01d0 Xi\u0101nsh\u0113ng.
\tYou are Mr Li.
\t\u4f60\u4f1a\u4e2d\u6587\u3002
\tN\u01d0 huì Zh\u014dngwén.
\tYou speak Chinese.
\t\u8fd9\u91cc\u6709\u6d17\u624b\u95f4\u3002
\tZhèli y\u01d2u x\u01d0sh\u01d2uji\u0101n.
\tThere is a toilet here.
\tCompare the two sets of sentences. You can see that when \u5417 is added on the end, they become yes-no questions. All of those questions can only be answered with agreement or disagreement. That’s what \u5417 is for.<\/p>\n
\tIn this way, \u5417 is almost like a question mark that you say out loud. It goes on the end of the sentence and indicates that it’s a question. Have a look at some point statements being changed into yes-no questions with \u5417:<\/p>\n
\t\u8fd9\u662f\u4f60\u7684\u3002
\tZhè shì n\u01d0 de.
\tThis is yours.
\t\u8fd9\u662f\u4f60\u7684\u5417\uff1f
\tZhè shì n\u01d0 de ma?
\tIs this yours?
\t\u4ed6\u662f\u6cf0\u56fd\u4eba\u3002
\tT\u0101 shì Tàiguórén.
\tHe's from Thailand.
\t\u4ed6\u662f\u6cf0\u56fd\u4eba\u5417\uff1f
\tT\u0101 shì Tàiguórén ma?
\tIs he from Thailand?
\t\u90a3\u662f\u98de\u673a\u3002
\tNà shì f\u0113ij\u012b.
\tThat's a plane.
\t\u90a3\u662f\u98de\u673a\u5417\uff1f
\tNà shì f\u0113ij\u012b ma?
\tIs that a plane?
\tNotice how in English you have to re-arrange the word order of the sentence to form these questions. In Chinese, all you have to do is add \u5417 on the end.<\/p>\n