Questions
Questions in Mandarin never change the word order. You take the statement exactly as it is and either add a particle, split the verb, or drop a question word into the slot where the answer will go.
Yes/no questions: add 吗 ma
Statement + 吗 at the end. That's the entire transformation:
| statement | question |
|---|---|
| 你是学生 nǐ shì xuésheng — "you're a student" | 你是学生吗？nǐ shì xuésheng ma? — "are you a student?" |
| 他会来 tā huì lái — "he'll come" | 他会来吗？tā huì lái ma? — "will he come?" |
Yes/no questions, version 2: A-not-A
Repeat the verb with 不 in the middle — no 吗 needed:
| 你去不去？nǐ qù bu qù? | "are you going (or not)?" | |
| 他是不是老师？tā shì bu shì lǎoshī? | "is he a teacher?" | |
| 你有没有票？nǐ yǒu méiyǒu piào? | "do you have a ticket?" | 有 pairs with 没 |
A-not-A and 吗 mean the same thing; A-not-A feels a shade more direct. Never combine them: 你去不去吗 ✗.
Answering: echo the verb
No universal "yes"/"no" — answer with the verb, positive or negated:
你去不去？— 去 qù — "yes" · 不去 bú qù — "no" 你吃了吗？— 吃了 chī le — "yes" · 还没 hái méi — "not yet"
Question words stay IN PLACE
The single biggest habit to unlearn from English: no fronting. The question word sits exactly where the answer will sit:
| question | answer | note |
|---|---|---|
| 你去哪儿？nǐ qù nǎr? | 我去北京 wǒ qù Běijīng | "you go WHERE?" — not "where you go" |
| 你叫什么名字？nǐ jiào shénme míngzi? | 我叫李明 wǒ jiào Lǐ Míng | "you're called WHAT name?" |
| 这是谁的？zhè shì shéi de? | 这是我的 zhè shì wǒ de | "this is WHOSE?" |
The question words:
| 什么 shénme | "what" | 你想吃什么？— "what do you want to eat?" |
| 谁 shéi | "who" | 谁来了？— "who came?" |
| 哪儿 / 哪里 nǎr / nǎlǐ | "where" | 你在哪儿？— "where are you?" |
| 什么时候 shénme shíhou | "when" | 你什么时候走？— "when do you leave?" |
| 为什么 wèishénme | "why" | 你为什么学中文？— "why do you study Chinese?" |
| 怎么 zěnme | "how" | 怎么去？— "how do (we) get there?" |
| 几 jǐ / 多少 duōshao | "how many / how much" | 几个人？— "how many people?" (几 expects a small number) |
No 吗 with question words: 你去哪儿吗 ✗.
呢 ne — "and how about…?"
呢 bounces a question back without repeating it:
我很好，你呢？wǒ hěn hǎo, nǐ ne? — "I'm fine — and you?" 我的手机呢？wǒ de shǒujī ne? — "where's my phone?" (呢 alone = "where is…?")
The takeaway
Statements and questions share one word order. Add 吗, split the verb, or slot a question word in place — three tools, zero inversion, zero auxiliary "do".
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