\tAs you can see above, these two particles are fairly similar. But what are the important differences? Let’s have a look at a few here.<\/p>\n
\tThe first difference is that \u5417 is only for yes-no questions, whereas \u5462 cannot be used in yes-no questions. \u5417 always forms these questions, whereas when \u5462 is used to form queries, they are open-ended.<\/p>\n
\tThe second difference is that \u5462 can combine with question words to emphasize a query. \u5417 can’t be doubled-up with other question words; it marks questions on its own. For example, \u5462 is being used to add a further querying element to these questions:<\/p>\n
\t\u4f60\u4e3a\u4ec0\u4e48\u4e0d\u53bb\u5462\uff1f
\tN\u01d0 wèishénme bù qù ne?
\tWhy aren't you going?
\t\u4ed6\u6709\u4ec0\u4e48\u4e0d\u559c\u6b22\u5403\u7684\u5462\uff1f
\tT\u0101 y\u01d2u shénme bù x\u01d0huan ch\u012b de ne?
\tWhat is there that he doesn't like to eat?
\tThose would both be grammatically valid questions without \u5462, but by adding \u5462 the speaker makes it clear that they don’t just want an answer to the question – they’re questioning the situation or even criticising it. They’ve added a further query to it.<\/p>\n
\t\u5417, on the other hand, can’t combine directly with other question words in a statement. If there’s already a question word, it fills up the question “slot”, and there’s no more space for \u5417.<\/p>\n
\tThe only way \u5417 can appear with other question words in the same sentence is if it’s used to ask a yes-no question about a condition. That sounds complicated, but this example might make it clearer:<\/p>\n
\t\u4f60\u77e5\u9053\u4ed6\u4e3a\u4ec0\u4e48\u4e0d\u5403\u8089\u5417\uff1f
\tN\u01d0 zh\u012bdào t\u0101 wèishéme bù ch\u012b ròu ma?
\tDo you know why he doesn't eat meat?
\t\u5417 is appearing with another question word (\u4e3a\u4ec0\u4e48) in that sentence, but it’s not actually part of that question. There are two questions in the sentence here: an inner question about why the person doesn’t eat meat, and an outer question about whether the listener knows the answer to the inner question:<\/p>\n
\t\u4f60\u77e5\u9053\u5417\uff1f
\tN\u01d0 zh\u012bdào ma?
\tDo you know?
\t\u4ed6\u4e3a\u4ec0\u4e48\u4e0d\u5403\u8089\uff1f
\tT\u0101 wèishénme bù ch\u012b ròu?
\tWhy doesn't he eat meat?
\t\u5417 really only applies to the outer question, so it doesn’t clash with the question word in the inner one. Other than that kind of situation, \u5417 can’t appear directly together with other question words.<\/p>\n