{"id":3018,"date":"2019-10-30T00:22:07","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T00:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-grammar\/the-sentence-particles-ba-ba-and-ma-ma-in-chinese-grammar\/"},"modified":"2019-10-30T00:22:07","modified_gmt":"2019-10-30T00:22:07","slug":"the-sentence-particles-ba-ba-and-ma-ma-in-chinese-grammar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/vi\/the-sentence-particles-ba-ba-and-ma-ma-in-chinese-grammar\/","title":{"rendered":"The sentence particles \u5427 (ba) and \u5417 (ma) in Chinese grammar"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u5427 (ma) and \u5417 (ma) are two of the most common sentence particles in Chinese grammar. (A sentence particle just means a particle that goes on the end of a sentence.)<\/p>\n

They have some similarity in that both can be used to ask questions, but they are quite distinct in their uses. Learn how to use both of these sentence particles correctly with the guide below.<\/p>\n

As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, please share them in them comments at the end of the page.<\/p>\n

How to use the \u5427 (ba) sentence particle<\/p>\n

o<\/em>nce you’ve been learning Mandarin for a while, you’ll probably start to notice that the particle \u5427 (ba) crops up all over the place. It’s extremely common in everyday speech. \u5427 has two main uses, which we will cover here.<\/p>\n

\u5427 makes instructions less direct<\/p>\n

The first is to mark and soften commands, requests and suggestions. Remember that \u5427 doesn’t just indicate that something is a command or suggestion – it also makes it sound a little bit softer. This use of the \u5427 sentence particle can turn a slightly pushy instruction into a more neutral one.<\/p>\n

Let’s have a look at some example sentences for this use of \u5427:<\/p>\n

\u54b1\u4eec\u8d70\u5427\u3002
Zánmen z\u01d2u ba.
Let’s go.
\u6211\u5e2e\u4f60\u5427\u3002
W\u01d2 b\u0101ng n\u01d0 ba.
Let me help you.
\u5feb\u70b9\u5427\uff01
Kuài di\u01cen ba!
Hurry up!
\u4f60\u6765\u5427\u3002
N\u01d0 lái ba.
Why don’t you do it?
\u7ed9\u6211\u70b9\u513f\u7eb8\u5427\u3002
G\u011bi w\u01d2 di\u01cen er zh\u01d0 ba.
Can you give me some paper?
Notice how English has a few different ways of making these sorts of requests and suggestions less direct. In Chinese, \u5427 can be used in all of these situations. Also remember that all of the above sentences would still work without \u5427, they would just be more direct.<\/p>\n

\u5427 asks for agreement or \/con<\/em>firm\/iation<\/p>\n

The second main use of \u5427 is as a tag question to ask for agreement or co<\/em>nfirmation with what is being said. These aren’t ‘true’ questions – they’re just prom<\/em>pting the listener to agree. The speaker thinks that what they are saying is probably true, but they’d like to co<\/em>nfirm it.<\/p>\n

Let’s have a look at some example sentences for this use of \u5427:<\/p>\n

\u4ed6\u59d3\u738b\uff0c\u5bf9\u5427\uff1f
T\u0101 xìng wáng, duì ba?
His surname is Wang, isn’t it?
\u4f60\u4eec\u5f88\u997f\u5427\uff1f
N\u01d0men h\u011bn è ba?
You must be hungry!
\u4e0d\u9519\u5427\uff1f
Bùcuò ba?
Pretty good, right?
\u4e0d\u5bf9\u5427\uff1f
Bùduì ba?
That’s not right, is it?
You might be able to see the similarity between both uses of the sentence particle \u5427. They’re both used in situations wher the speaker doesn’t want to be too certain or direct in what they’re saying.<\/p>\n

How to use the \u5417 (ma) sentence particle<\/p>\n

Most students of Chinese grammar find that the sentence particle \u5417 (ma) is a little bit easier to understand. It is placed on the end of a sentence to turn it into a yes-no question. This type of question is also known as a polar question or binary question. It simply means that the question can o<\/em>nly be answered with “yes” or “no” (rather than an open-ended response).<\/p>\n

Here are some quick example sentences for the \u5417 sentence particle:<\/p>\n

\u4f60\u997f\u5417\uff1f
N\u01d0 è ma?
Are you hungry?
\u5403\u996d\u4e86\u5417\uff1f
Ch\u012bfànle ma?
Have you eaten?
\u4f60\u8981\u53bb\u4e0a\u6d77\u5417\uff1f
N\u01d0 yào qù Shàngh\u01cei ma?
Are you going to go to Shanghai?
\u4f60\u770b\u8fc7\u8fd9\u90e8\u7535\u5f71\u5417\uff1f
N\u01d0 kànguò zhè bù diàny\u01d0ng ma?
Have you seen this film before?
As you can see above, \u5417 is fairly easy to use as a sentence particle. You simply place it after a statement and it turns it into a yes-no question.<\/p>\n

The difference between \u5427 and \u5417<\/p>\n

As you saw above, \u5427 and \u5417 are similar in some ways but definitely not the same. \u5427 is for softening commands, requests, questions and suggestions. \u5417 is simply for turning statements into yes-no questions.<\/p>\n

If you have any questions or suggestions, please share them in the comments below (bo<\/em>nus points if you use \u5427 or \u5417 in your question or suggestion!)
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