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

ba

Traditional: 吧

Line drawing of 吧
Coloured illustration of 吧
HSK 2
#15 of 2,700Core 1000

Translation

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

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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

Stroke order for 吧

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.

Where this fits

Appears in 1 word

Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 吧.

Used in

Grammar articles

(25)

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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.

This word is taught in chapter 2, lesson 2: 吧, 好, 什么 and 12 more words.