Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

NeGatiNG iNFormatioN 27.5 27.5 literary markers of negation: 無 wú and 非 fBi The literary markers of negation 無 wú and 非 fēi occu ...

literary markers of negation: 無 wú and 非 fBi 27.5 I must master Chinese. 你今天下午非得把功课做完。 你今天下午非得把功課做完。 Nǐ jīntiān xiàwǔ fēi děi bǎ ...

28 asking questions and replying to questions Questions are used to ask for information. Here are the most common question types ...

yes–no questions 28.1 The equational verb 是 shì ‘to be’ 她是不是中国人？ 她是不是中國人？ Tā shì bù shì Zhōngguo rén? Is she a Chinese person? C ...

aSkiNG qUeStioNS aNd rePlyiNG to qUeStioNS 28.1 他们卖橘子不卖？ 他們賣橘子不賣？ Tāmen mài júzi bù mài? Do they sell tangerines? 你有钱没有？ 你有錢沒有？ ...

yes–no questions 28.1 吗/嗎 ma question 是否 shìfǒu question Verb-not-verb question Ye s 她是中国人吗？ 她是否是中国人？ 她是不是中国人？ 是。 她是中國人嗎？ 她是否是中國 ...

aSkiNG qUeStioNS aNd rePlyiNG to qUeStioNS 28.2 28.2 asking for agreement To ask someone for confirmation that information is co ...

rhetorical questions 28.4 28.3 Choosing between alternatives with 还是/還是 háishi ‘either–or’ questions To ask someone to choose be ...

aSkiNG qUeStioNS aNd rePlyiNG to qUeStioNS 28.6 Hasn’t he already graduated? (Isn’t it the case that he’s already graduated?) 你不 ...

Content questions 28.6 Content question word Meaning What it questions Example phrase 谁 who? person 他是谁？ 誰 他是誰？ shéi Tā shì shéi ...

aSkiNG qUeStioNS aNd rePlyiNG to qUeStioNS 28.6 Content question word Meaning What it questions Example phrase 多少 how many? quan ...

Content questions 28.6 In Mandarin, questions and answers use the same phrase order. In Mandarin, the content question word goes ...

aSkiNG qUeStioNS aNd rePlyiNG to qUeStioNS 28.6 The question expression 怎么样？/ 怎麼樣？zěnmeyàng? asks for a description: 那个饭馆怎么样？ 那個 ...

29 Expressing identification, possession, and existence 29.1 Expressing identification To identify a person, place, or thing, us ...

exPreSSiNG ideNtiFiCatioN, PoSSeSSioN, aNd exiSteNCe 29.2 Q: 这是不是假日旅馆？ A: 是。 這是不是假日旅館？ Zhè shì bù shì Jiàrì Lǘguǎn? Shì. Is this ...

expressing possession 29.2 Q: 你现在有空吗？ A: 对不起。现在没有空。 你現在有空嗎？ 對不起。現在沒有空。 Nǐ xiànzài yǒu kōng ma? Duìbuqǐ. Xiànzài méi yǒu kōng. Do ...

exPreSSiNG ideNtiFiCatioN, PoSSeSSioN, aNd exiSteNCe 29.3 29.2.3 expressing possession in formal written Chinese 属于/屬於 shǔyú ‘be ...

expressing existence 29.3 昨天晚上没有雾。 昨天晚上沒有霧。 Zuótiān wǎnshang méi yǒu wù. There was no fog last night. C27.1.2 29.3.2 the verb 是 ...

30 describing people, places, and things 30.1 equational sentences: identifying or describing the subject with a noun phrase in ...

asking questions about the attributes of a person, place, or thing 30.4 奔驰很贵。 奔馳很貴。 Bēnchí hěn guì. The Mercedes Benz is very ex ...