rhetorical questions
28.4
28.3 Choosing between alternatives with 还是/還是 háishi
‘either–or’ questions
To ask someone to choose between alternatives, use 还是/還是 háishi. 还是/還是 háishi
sentences often end with 呢 ne.
Usually, 还是/還是 háishi occurs before the verb phrase of each alternative.
(subject) VP 1 还是/還是 háishi VP 2 呢 ne
你喝茶还是喝啤酒呢？
你喝茶還是喝啤酒呢？
Nǐ hē chá háishi hē píjiǔ ne?
Will you drink tea or beer?
If the main verb of the sentence is 是 shì, 还是/還是 háishi can occur before the object noun
or noun phrase.
她是学生还是老师呢？
她是學生還是老師呢？
Tā shì xuésheng háishi lǎoshī ne?
Is she a student or a teacher?
When both alternatives are sentences, 还是/還是 háishi occurs before the second sentence.
你觉得中文难还是日文难？
你覺得中文難還是日文難？
Nǐ juéde Zhōngwén nán háishi Rìwén nán?
Which do you think is more difficult: Chinese or Japanese?
(lit. ‘(Do) you think Chinese is difficult or Japanese is difficult?’)
The first alternative may be preceded by 是 shì.
(是)中国大还是俄国大？
(是)中國大還是俄國大？
(Shì) Zhōngguó dà háishi Éguó dà?
Which is bigger, China or Russia? (lit. ‘Is China big or is Russia big?’)
To answer a 还是/還是 háishi question, select the alternative that you prefer. To indicate that a
choice was made after careful consideration, it may be preceded by 是 shì or 还是/還是 háishi.
中国大。 or 是中国大。
中國大。 是中國大。
Zhōngguó dà. Shì Zhōngguó dà.
China is bigger. [I think] China is bigger.
我喝茶。 or 我还是喝茶。
我喝茶。 我还是喝茶。
Wǒ hē chá. Wǒ háishi hē chá.
I’ll drink tea. I’d prefer to drink tea.
C16.2.1
28.4 Rhetorical questions
To ask a question for which you think you know the answer, use 不是 bù shì + 吗/嗎 ma.
不是 bù shì occurs immediately before the predicate.
他不是已经毕业了吗？
他不是已經畢業了嗎？
Tā bù shì yǐjing bì yè le ma?
