Yes-No Questions in Mandarin
Forming a question in English is real work: "you are going" has to become "are you going?", with the verb hauled to the front, and most verbs need "do" drafted in as well. Mandarin does none of this. A yes-no question is the statement, unchanged, plus one syllable at the end. This page covers the question particle 吗 (ma), the echo system Mandarin uses instead of the words "yes" and "no", and the bounce-back particle 呢 (ne).
吗 (ma): statement + one syllable = question
Take any statement. Add 吗 to the end. It is now a question. The word order does not change, no auxiliary appears, and the verb does not move or re-inflect.
| Statement | Question | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 你去。 (nǐ qù) | 你去吗？ (nǐ qù ma) | Are you going? |
| 你有事。 (nǐ yǒu shì) | 你有事吗？ (nǐ yǒu shì ma) | Do you have something on? |
| 他是你的先生。 (tā shì nǐ de xiān shēng) | 他是你的先生吗？ (tā shì nǐ de xiān shēng ma) | Is he your husband? |
| 你喜欢这个。 (nǐ xǐ huan zhè ge) | 你喜欢这个吗？ (nǐ xǐ huan zhè ge ma) | Do you like this? |
| 你知道。 (nǐ zhī dào) | 你知道吗？ (nǐ zhī dào ma) | Do you know? |
吗 is a neutral-tone particle: no tone mark, said light and quick, like the unstressed end of an English sentence. It carries no meaning of its own; its entire job is to flag the sentence as a question. This is why Mandarin learners can ask questions on day one: every statement in your vocabulary is already a question, one syllable away.
Negative statements question the same way. 你不去吗？ (nǐ bú qù ma?) is "are you not going?", with the 不 vs 没 choice working exactly as it does in statements (see the negation page).
Answering: echo the verb, because there is no word for "yes"
Here is the part that genuinely differs from English: Mandarin has no single, universal word for "yes" and no single word for "no". You answer a yes-no question by echoing its verb - bare for yes, negated for no.
| Question | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| 你去吗？ (nǐ qù ma) | 去。 (qù) | 不去。 (bú qù) |
| 你是小明吗？ (nǐ shì Xiǎo Míng ma) | 是。 (shì) | 不是。 (bú shì) |
| 你有事吗？ (nǐ yǒu shì ma) | 有。 (yǒu) | 没有。 (méi yǒu) |
| 你要这个吗？ (nǐ yào zhè ge ma) | 要。 (yào) | 不要。 (bú yào) |
| 你知道吗？ (nǐ zhī dào ma) | 知道。 (zhī dào) | 不知道。 (bù zhī dào) |
The pattern to internalise: find the verb in the question, hand it back. The negative side follows the negation rules from the last lesson - 不 for most verbs, 没 for 有.
Two useful extras:
- 对 (duì, correct) works as an all-purpose "that's right" when confirming a statement: 你是小明吗？对，我是。(duì, wǒ shì - right, I am.)
- 是 on its own is sometimes used the way English uses "yes", but only comfortably where 是 was the verb in the question. Answering 你去吗 with 是 marks you as a learner immediately. Echo the verb instead.
呢 (ne): the bounce-back
Once one person has asked and answered, Mandarin has a particle that saves everyone repeating the question: 呢 (ne), a neutral-tone particle meaning roughly "and...?" or "what about...?".
| Exchange | Pinyin | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 你好吗？我很好，你呢？ | nǐ hǎo ma? wǒ hěn hǎo, nǐ ne? | How are you? I am fine, and you? |
| 我不去，你呢？ | wǒ bú qù, nǐ ne? | I am not going, what about you? |
| 我要这个，你呢？ | wǒ yào zhè ge, nǐ ne? | I want this one, and you? |
呢 reflects whatever question is live in the conversation, so it only works once there is a question on the table. It cannot create a yes-no question from nothing; that is 吗's job, and the two never swap.
One more use you will hear constantly: 呢 aimed at a person or thing with no prior question asks where they are. 小明呢？ (Xiǎo Míng ne?) is "where is Xiaoming?". Handy, natural, and again zero word-order work.
A preview: the verb-not-verb question
There is a second way to build a yes-no question, and you will hear it from day one even if you do not produce it yet: repeat the verb around 不.
- 你是不是小明？ (nǐ shì bu shì Xiǎo Míng?) - Are you Xiaoming (or not)?
- 你去不去？ (nǐ qù bu qù?) - Are you going or not?
- 好不好？ (hǎo bu hǎo?) - Is that alright?
This is the A-not-A pattern. It means the same as the 吗 version, sounds a touch more direct, and never combines with 吗 (one question marker per sentence). The 不 in the middle is squeezed to a neutral tone: shì bu shì, not shì bù shì. A later chapter treats it in full; for now, recognise it, answer it with the same echo system, and keep using 吗 yourself.
The cheatsheet
| Job | Tool | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Turn a statement into a question | 吗 at the end | 你去吗？ (nǐ qù ma) |
| Answer yes | Echo the verb | 去。 (qù) |
| Answer no | Echo the verb, negated | 不去。 (bú qù) / 没有。 (méi yǒu) |
| Confirm a statement | 对 | 对，我是。 (duì, wǒ shì) |
| Bounce the question back | 呢 | 我很好，你呢？ (wǒ hěn hǎo, nǐ ne) |
| Ask where someone is | 呢 | 小明呢？ (Xiǎo Míng ne) |
| Direct alternative (preview) | A-not-A | 你去不去？ (nǐ qù bu qù) |
Cross-links
- Mandarin pillar for where questions sit in the first weeks of the curriculum.
- Mandarin grammar for the wider grammar map.
- Negation with 不 and 没 for the negative half of every echo answer.
- The copula 是 for 是 questions and 是不是 in full.
- Question words for 什么, 谁 and the rest of the wh-system, covered in a later chapter.
- Mandarin word order for why nothing moves when Mandarin asks a question.