How to form yes/no questions in Chinese
Yes/no questions in Chinese are primarily formed by adding the question particle 吗 (ma) at the end of a declarative sentence. This makes the sentence a yes/no question without changing the word order. For example, 你是学生吗？(Nǐ shì xuéshēng ma?) means “Are you a student?” By adding 吗, the statement “You are a student” turns into a question.
Another way to form yes/no questions is by using the verb-not-verb structure, where you insert 不 (bù) or 没 (méi) before the verb to present both positive and negative forms, as in 你喜不喜欢 (Nǐ xǐ bù xǐhuān) “Do you like (or not like)?” This also forms yes/no questions without adding 吗.
Answers to yes/no questions often involve repeating the verb to indicate “yes,” or using 不 or 没 + the verb to indicate “no.” For instance, if asked 你喜欢中国菜吗？(Nǐ xǐhuān Zhōngguó cài ma?) — “Do you like Chinese food?” — the answer could be 喜欢 (xǐhuān) for “yes” or 不喜欢 (bù xǐhuān) for “no.”
In summary, the two main ways to form yes/no questions in Chinese are:
- Add 吗 (ma) at the end of a statement.
- Use the verb-not-verb structure by placing 不 (bù) or 没 (méi) before the verb.
These methods do not require changing the typical subject-verb-object word order of the sentence.