Yes/No Questions with 吗 in Chinese

In Brief

To turn a Mandarin statement into a neutral yes/no question, usually keep the statement exactly as it is and add 吗 (ma) at the end: 你喜欢。 “You like it.” → 你喜欢吗？ “Do you like it?” Answer by repeating the key verb or adjective, with 不 or 没 for a negative answer: 喜欢 / 不喜欢, 去了 / 没去.

Overview

A yes/no question is a question that asks whether something is true: “Are you busy?”, “Does she drink tea?”, or “Did they arrive?” Mandarin often forms this kind of question with the sentence-final particle 吗. A particle is a short word that has a grammatical function but does not name a person, thing, or action. Here, 吗 marks the whole sentence as a question.

This is one of the most useful A1 patterns because it works with many ordinary statements. Unlike English, Mandarin does not normally add an equivalent of do, does, or did, and it does not move the verb in front of the subject. The basic word order stays unchanged. That makes the pattern simple, but learners still need to pay attention to natural answers and to other question patterns that do not use 吗.

In pinyin, the particle is written ma with no tone mark because it normally has a neutral tone (a light, unstressed syllable). In writing, Chinese uses the full-width question mark ？, though the essential grammatical marker is 吗 itself.

How It Works

Start with a statement and add 吗

The beginner rule is:

statement + 吗？

The subject, time expression, verb, object, and other parts remain in their normal positions.

Statement	Pinyin	Meaning	Question formed with 吗
你是学生。	Nǐ shì xuésheng.	You are a student.	你是学生吗？
他来。	Tā lái.	He is coming.	他来吗？
这个好吃。	Zhège hǎochī.	This is delicious.	这个好吃吗？
你喜欢咖啡。	Nǐ xǐhuan kāfēi.	You like coffee.	你喜欢咖啡吗？

English changes “You are a student” to “Are you a student?” and adds do in “Do you like coffee?” Mandarin does neither:

• 你是学生吗？ — literally, “You are a student + question?”
• 你喜欢咖啡吗？ — literally, “You like coffee + question?”

Do not treat 吗 as a translation of English do. It is a marker for the entire question and works with many kinds of predicates. A predicate is the part of a sentence that says something about the subject; it may contain a verb such as 喜欢 “like” or an adjective such as 忙 “busy.”

Use it with 是, other verbs, and adjectives

The same pattern applies to several common sentence types.

Type	Chinese	Pinyin	English
是 “be”	她是老师吗？	Tā shì lǎoshī ma?	Is she a teacher?
Action verb	你喝茶吗？	Nǐ hē chá ma?	Do you drink tea?
Modal verb	我可以进去吗？	Wǒ kěyǐ jìnqù ma?	May I go in?
Adjective predicate	你忙吗？	Nǐ máng ma?	Are you busy?
Completed event	他到了吗？	Tā dào le ma?	Has he arrived?

Mandarin adjectives can often function directly as predicates. Therefore 你忙吗？ does not need 是. It is not necessary to build a form corresponding word for word to English “Are you busy?”

Keep time and place in their normal positions

Adding 吗 does not move other sentence elements. A time expression usually remains before the verb, and 吗 still goes at the end.

• 你今天上班吗？ — Are you working today?
• 他们明天去北京吗？ — Are they going to Beijing tomorrow?
• 你在家吃饭吗？ — Do you eat at home?

The final position is important. 吗 follows the full statement, not just the verb or the word being questioned.

Answer by echoing the key word

Mandarin certainly has 对 “right/correct” and 是的 “yes/that is so,” but many everyday answers sound more direct when they repeat the key verb, modal, or adjective. This is sometimes called an echo answer: the answer echoes the central word from the question.

Question	Affirmative answer	Negative answer	Natural English sense
你是学生吗？	是，我是学生。	不是，我是老师。	Yes, I am. / No, I’m not.
你喜欢吗？	喜欢。	不喜欢。	Yes, I do. / No, I don’t.
你忙吗？	忙。	不忙。	Yes, I am. / No, I’m not.
你会游泳吗？	会。	不会。	Yes, I can. / No, I can’t.
他来了吗？	来了。	没来。	Yes, he did. / No, he didn’t.

Use 不 for a general, habitual, present, or intended negative: 不喜欢 “do not like,” 不喝 “do not drink,” 不去 “will not go.” Use 没 or 没有 when saying that an event did not happen or has not happened: 没来 “did not come/has not come,” 没有吃 “did not eat.” Notice that the negative reply to 来了吗？ is normally 没来, not 不来了; the latter can mean “is not coming anymore.”

A bare 是 is suitable when 是 is the key verb: 你是新同事吗？—是。 For 你喜欢吗？, answer 喜欢, not automatically 是. English uses the general words “yes” and “no” more freely, so learning verb-based answer pairs is especially valuable.

Examples in Context

Chinese	Pinyin	English	Note
你是学生吗？	Nǐ shì xuésheng ma?	Are you a student?	Question with 是
他来吗？	Tā lái ma?	Is he coming?	Simple action verb
这个菜好吃吗？	Zhège cài hǎochī ma?	Is this dish delicious?	Adjective predicate
你喜欢这本书吗？	Nǐ xǐhuan zhè běn shū ma?	Do you like this book?	Object stays after the verb
你每天喝咖啡吗？	Nǐ měitiān hē kāfēi ma?	Do you drink coffee every day?	Habitual question
她会说中文吗？	Tā huì shuō Zhōngwén ma?	Can she speak Chinese?	会 asks about learned ability
我可以坐这里吗？	Wǒ kěyǐ zuò zhèlǐ ma?	May I sit here?	Polite request for permission
你们明天有时间吗？	Nǐmen míngtiān yǒu shíjiān ma?	Do you have time tomorrow?	Time remains before the verb
他已经到了吗？	Tā yǐjīng dào le ma?	Has he arrived already?	Completed or newly achieved event
你吃饭了吗？	Nǐ chīfàn le ma?	Have you eaten?	Very common everyday question
这件衣服贵吗？	Zhè jiàn yīfu guì ma?	Is this item of clothing expensive?	Adjective predicate
这里可以拍照吗？	Zhèlǐ kěyǐ pāizhào ma?	Is photography allowed here?	Impersonal permission question

The translation should follow the context rather than the Chinese word order mechanically. For example, 你吃饭了吗？ may mean “Have you eaten?”, “Did you eat?”, or, in some social contexts, a friendly inquiry about whether someone has had a meal.

Common Mistakes

Changing the word order to imitate English

• Wrong: 是你学生吗？
• Right: 你是学生吗？
• Why: Mandarin does not invert the subject and verb for this pattern. Begin with the normal statement 你是学生 and add 吗.

Adding an unnecessary form of 是

• Wrong: 你是喜欢咖啡吗？ (as a neutral beginner question)
• Right: 你喜欢咖啡吗？
• Why: 喜欢 already supplies the predicate. Mandarin does not need 是 as an auxiliary corresponding to English do or be. Forms such as 是……吗？ can have special emphatic uses, but they are not the basic pattern.

Answering every question with 是 or 是的

• Less natural: 你会游泳吗？—是。
• Natural: 你会游泳吗？—会。
• Why: Echo the key word. Say 会 / 不会, 喜欢 / 不喜欢, or 忙 / 不忙. Reserve 是 / 不是 for questions whose central verb is 是, or use 对 when confirming that a statement is correct.

Using 不 for a completed event

• Wrong: 他来了吗？—不来。 (if you mean “He hasn’t come.”)
• Right: 他来了吗？—没来。
• Why: 没 negates an event that did not occur or has not occurred. 不来 usually describes a choice, intention, habit, or future situation: “He isn’t coming/won’t come.”

Adding 吗 to a question-word question

• Wrong: 你去哪儿吗？
• Right: 你去哪儿？
• Why: 哪儿 “where” already marks the sentence as a question. Standard information questions with 谁 “who,” 什么 “what,” 哪儿/哪里 “where,” or 为什么 “why” normally do not also take 吗.

Combining two basic yes/no patterns

• Wrong: 你是不是学生吗？
• Right: 你是学生吗？ or 你是不是学生？
• Why: 是不是 is an affirmative-negative pattern (“be or not be”) that already forms a yes/no question. In the neutral basic pattern, do not add 吗 as well.

Usage Notes

Neutral questions and context

A plain 吗 question usually presents a proposition and asks the listener to confirm or reject it. 你喝茶吗？ can ask about a habit (“Do you drink tea?”) or about the present choice (“Would you like/drink tea?”); vocabulary and context decide the intended reading.

In speech, 吗 is normally light and unstressed. The speaker’s intonation can rise, but learners should not rely on intonation alone. Saying the particle clearly makes the grammar unambiguous.

Permission and polite requests

With 可以 “may/can,” 吗 is useful for requests and permission:

• 我可以进来吗？ — May I come in?
• 你可以帮我吗？ — Can you help me?

These are grammatically yes/no questions, but socially they function as requests. Adding 请 is not always necessary; tone, context, and forms of address also affect politeness.

Negative questions are not completely neutral

A negative statement can also take 吗:

• 你不去吗？ — Aren’t you going?
• 他还没到吗？ — Hasn’t he arrived yet?

Such questions often express surprise, expectation, or a request for confirmation. They can be harder to answer because English “yes” and “no” responses to negative questions vary between speakers. Mandarin echo answers are clearer: 去 “I am going,” 不去 “I’m not going,” 到了 “he has arrived,” 还没到 “he hasn’t arrived yet.”

Beyond the Basics: Other Question Patterns

You do not need to master every contrast at A1, but recognizing them prevents overusing 吗.

The affirmative-negative pattern

Mandarin can form a yes/no question by placing the positive and negative forms together, often called an A-not-A question:

• 你是不是学生？ — Are you a student?
• 你去不去？ — Are you going or not?
• 他有没有时间？ — Does he have time?

Both 你是学生吗？ and 你是不是学生？ ask for confirmation, but the second explicitly presents the alternatives. Depending on context and tone, it may sound more insistent or more focused on making a choice. Normally choose one mechanism: final 吗 or the A-not-A form.

Choice questions use 还是, not 吗

A question that asks someone to choose between stated alternatives is not a simple yes/no question:

• 你喝茶还是咖啡？ — Do you want tea or coffee?
• 你今天去还是明天去？ — Are you going today or tomorrow?

The conjunction 还是 means “or” in this type of question. Do not add 吗 when the alternatives themselves are what the listener must choose between.

吗 compared with 呢 and 吧

Several particles can occur near the end of a sentence, but they do different jobs:

• 吗 makes a direct yes/no question: 你去吗？ “Are you going?”
• 呢 can ask a return or follow-up question: 你呢？ “And you?” It also appears in other question patterns.
• 吧 often softens a suggestion or seeks agreement: 我们走吧。 “Let’s go.” / 他是老师吧？ “He’s a teacher, right?”

A 吧 question often reveals that the speaker already expects a particular answer. A neutral 吗 question is usually a better choice when you simply want to know whether the statement is true.

Focused 是……吗 questions

At a later stage, you may encounter 是……吗？ where 是 highlights or checks one part of an idea, even though the ordinary sentence would not require 是. For example, 你是明天走吗？ can focus on whether tomorrow is the departure time. This is a discourse-level use connected with emphasis, not a reason to put 是 into every 吗 question. At beginner level, first learn the clean neutral form 你明天走吗？

Practice Tips

1. Transform real statements. Write five useful statements, such as 你喜欢这个 or 他明天上班, then add 吗？ without moving any words. Read each statement-question pair aloud.
2. Learn answers as pairs. Drill 是 / 不是, 有 / 没有, 会 / 不会, 喜欢 / 不喜欢, and 来了 / 没来. This trains you to answer from the Chinese verb instead of translating “yes” or “no” first.
3. Sort question types. When you hear a question, identify whether it uses 吗, an A-not-A form, a question word, or 还是. This helps you avoid mixing patterns and prepares you for more natural conversation.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Basic Sentence Structure — learn the normal statement order that remains unchanged before 吗 is added.
• Next step: Question Words — ask for specific information with words such as 谁, 什么, and 哪儿, normally without 吗.