Learn how to use the question particle 吗
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| Hi everyone |
| I'm Yun. |
| Hi 大家好 我是雲。 |
| Hi dājiā hǎo, wǒ shì Yun. |
| Welcome to the Chinese Whiteboard Lessons. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn how to use the question particle |
| 吗。 |
| Ma. |
| Let's get started. |
| First, let's look at the sentence here. |
| 你是学生吗? |
| Nǐ shì xué shēng ma? |
| Are you a student? |
| 你 |
| Nǐ |
| means ""you"" |
| 是 |
| Shì |
| is the equivalent of to be, so here means "are" |
| and |
| 学生 |
| Xuéshēng |
| means student |
| 你是学生 |
| Nǐ shì xuéshēng |
| is the statement |
| You are a student |
| So you see the pattern here is a simple statement plus the question particle |
| 吗 |
| Ma |
| and that's how we form the question in Chinese. |
| So |
| 吗 |
| Ma |
| is a here is a little word that turns your statement into a question. |
| You could think of it as being like a question mark you say out loud. |
| We use it at the end of the sentence to turn the sentence into a yes no question. |
| And also here |
| 吗 |
| Ma |
| the pronunciation of |
| 吗 |
| Ma |
| is very light and very quick because it's a neutral tone. |
| The more natural way to say it is to say it quickly and it's very very light. |
| Using |
| 吗 |
| Ma |
| I think it's probably the easiest way to form a question in Chinese. |
| You'll see from our examples later. |
| Let's look at the dialogues. |
| When I read I want you to pay attention to how the questions are formed. |
| Find what the statements are and observe how the questions are answered. |
| 你是学生吗? |
| Nǐ shì xuéshēng ma? |
| Are you a student? |
| 你是学生吗? |
| Nǐ shì xuéshēng ma? |
| 我不是学生 我是老师 |
| Wǒ bùshì xuéshēng wǒ shì lǎoshī |
| I'm not a student I'm a teacher. |
| 我不是学生 我是老师 |
| Wǒ bùshì xuéshēng wǒ shì lǎoshī |
| 你好吗? |
| Nǐ hǎo ma? |
| How are you? |
| 你好吗? |
| Nǐ hǎo ma? |
| 我很好 |
| Wǒ hěn hǎo |
| I'm good |
| 我很好 |
| Wǒ hěn hǎo |
| 你喜欢中文吗? |
| Nǐ xǐhuān zhōngwén ma? |
| Do you like Chinese? |
| 你喜欢中文吗? |
| Nǐ xǐhuān zhōngwén ma? |
| 喜欢 |
| Xǐhuān |
| Yes I do |
| 喜欢 |
| Xǐhuān |
| Now let's look at some speaking examples. |
| 你是老师吗? |
| Nǐ shì lǎoshī ma? |
| Are you a teacher? |
| 你是老师吗? |
| Nǐ shì lǎoshī ma? |
| 这本书难吗? |
| Zhè běn shū nán ma? |
| Is this book difficult? |
| 这本书难吗? |
| Zhè běn shū nán ma? |
| 你们喜欢唱歌吗? |
| Nǐmen xǐhuān chànggē ma? |
| Do you like singing? |
| 你们喜欢唱歌吗? |
| Nǐmen xǐhuān chànggē ma? |
| So |
| 本 |
| Běn |
| here is a measure word or we call it classifier. |
| Usually we use it for books, magazines, notebooks or albums. |
| and |
| 唱歌 |
| Chànggē |
| here means "singing". |
| 唱 |
| Chàng |
| means to sing a "verb". |
| and |
| 歌 |
| Gē |
| means a song, to sing a song, so singing. |
| and |
| 喜欢 |
| Xǐhuān |
| here means "like" |
| it's a verb too. |
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