{"id":3011,"date":"2019-10-29T16:56:22","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T16:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-grammar\/asking-yes-no-questions-in-mandarin\/"},"modified":"2019-10-29T16:56:22","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T16:56:22","slug":"asking-yes-no-questions-in-mandarin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/de\/asking-yes-no-questions-in-mandarin\/","title":{"rendered":"Asking Yes \/ No Questions in Mandarin"},"content":{"rendered":"
There are two ways to ask yes \/ no questions in Mandarin: with the “ma” particle, or by using a positive \/ negative sentence structure.
Ma<\/p>\n

The particle “ma” can be added to the end of any sentence to make it into a question. For example, if you want to ask, “Have you eaten?” (which is a standard greeting), you would say, “ch\u012b b\u01ceo le ma?” \u5403\u98fd\u4e86\u55ce?<\/p>\n

The answer to this question could be, “ch\u012b b\u01ceo le” (I have eaten) \u5403\u98fd\u4e86, or “hái méi” (not yet) \u9084\u6c92.<\/p>\n

Postive \/ Negative<\/p>\n

An alternate way to ask questions is to include both the positive and negative forms of the verb.<\/p>\n

Negative verbs are usually formed with “bù” \u4e0d as in “bù h\u01ceo \u4e0d\u597d” (not good), but occasio<\/em>nally the particle “méi \u6c92” is used, as in “méi y\u01d2u” \u6c92\u6709 (don’t have). Note that both “bù” and “méi” are used in front of the verb.
Examples<\/p>\n

    N\u01d0 yào bu yào qù B\u011bij\u012bng? (Do you or don’t you want to go to Beijing?)
    \u4f60\u8981\u4e0d\u8981\u53bb\u5317\u4eac?
    Or:
    N\u01d0 yào qù B\u011bij\u012bng ma?
    \u4f60\u8981\u53bb\u5317\u4eac\u55ce?<\/p>\n

    T\u0101 y\u01d2u méi y\u01d2u b\u01d0 jì b\u011bn? (Does he or doesn’t he have a notebook?)
    \u4ed6\u6709\u6c92\u6709\u7b46\u8a18\u672c?
    Or:
    T\u0101 y\u01d2u b\u01d0 jì b\u011bn ma?
    \u4ed6\u6709\u7b46\u8a18\u672c\u55ce?<\/p>\n

    N\u01d0 zh\u012b bù zh\u012b dào t\u0101 de míng zi? (Do you or don’t you know his name?)
    \u4f60\u77e5\u4e0d\u77e5\u9053\u4ed6\u7684\u540d\u5b57?
    Or:
    N\u01d0 zh\u012b dào t\u0101 de míng zi ma? <\/p>\n

In the examples above, the verbs are yào (want); y\u01d2u (have); and zh\u012b dào (know).<\/p>\n

When the positive \/ negative form is used with two-character verbs (like zh\u012b dào), the verb is split after the first character, as in “zh\u012b bù zh\u012b dào.”
<\/div>\n