(ba) - suggestion or softening particle (let's, shall we, I suppose) in Mandarin

Traditional: 吧

HSK 1

#15 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

suggestion or softening particle (let's, shall we, I suppose)

Word origin

The sentence particle 吧 is a phono-semantic compound: the mouth radical 口 marks it as a spoken sound, and 巴 (bā) supplies the pronunciation. The mouth radical is the standard signal for a spoken particle.

Origin: phono-semantic compound
Root: 口 (mouth radical) + 巴 (bā, phonetic)

Stroke order

吧

Examples

。

Let's go.

。

Come on then.

？

He's a teacher, I suppose?

。

Let's go together.

。

Why don't you rest a bit first.

吧 (ba) is a sentence-final particle that softens commands, makes suggestions, or signals supposition.

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Appears in 1 word

Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 吧.

酒吧jiǔ bābar, pub

Used in

Stories

(4)

Grammar articles

(13)

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Mandarin · Free printables

吧: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "吧" (suggestion or softening particle (let's, shall we, I suppose)): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 1.