Yes-no question with “吗”

Yes-no question with “吗”

“吗” is used at the end of a declarative sentence to form a yes-no question.

Declarative sentence + 吗？

Note that “吗” can’t be used with a special sentence, affirmative-negative sentence, or selective sentence.

e.g.

A: 你是中国人吗？(Nǐ shì Zhōngguó rén ma?) Are you Chinese?

B: 是，我是中国人。(Shì, wǒ shì Zhōngguó rén.) Yes, I am Chinese.

C: 不是，我不是中国人。(Búshì, wǒ búshì Zhōngguó rén.) No, I am not Chinese.

 

A: 现在你在北京吗？(Xiànzài nǐ zài Běijīng ma?) Are you in Beijing now?

B：我在北京。(Wǒ zài Běijīng.) I’m in Beijing.

C：我不在北京。(Wǒ búzài Běijīng.) I am not in Beijing.

 

A：今天天气冷吗？(Jīntiān tiānqì lěng ma?) Is it cold today?

B：冷。(Lěng.) Cold.

C：不冷。(Bù lěng.) Not cold.

 

A：你们会写汉字吗？(Nǐmen huì xiě hànzì ma?) Can you write Chinese characters?

B：会写。(Huì xiě.) Yes, we can.

C：不会写。(Bú huì xiě.) No, we can’t.

 

A：昨天你去学校了吗？(Zuótiān nǐ qù xuéxiào le ma?) Did you go to school yesterday?

B：去了。(Qù le.) Yes, I went.

C：没去。(Méi qù.) No, I didn’t go.