Yes/No Questions with 吗 in Chinese

Overview

Forming yes/no questions in Chinese is remarkably simple: take any statement and add the particle 吗 (ma) at the end. There is no word order change, no auxiliary verb insertion, and no intonation requirement. The statement 你是学生 (You are a student) becomes 你是学生吗？ (Are you a student?) with just one added syllable.

At the CEFR A1 level, this is one of the first and most useful patterns to learn because it allows you to ask questions immediately. The 吗 particle is pronounced with a neutral (light) tone and simply signals that the speaker is asking for confirmation.

Answering yes/no questions in Chinese also differs from English. There are no exact equivalents of "yes" and "no." Instead, you repeat the verb to affirm (是, "yes [it is]") or negate it to deny (不是, "no [it is not]").

How It Works

Forming questions with 吗

Statement	+ 吗	Question
你是学生。	→	你是学生吗？ (Are you a student?)
他来。	→	他来吗？ (Is he coming?)
你喜欢。	→	你喜欢吗？ (Do you like it?)

Answering 吗 questions

Question	Affirmative	Negative
你是学生吗？	是。/ 是的。	不是。
他来吗？	来。/ 他来。	不来。/ 他不来。
好吃吗？	好吃。	不好吃。

Alternative: verb-not-verb questions

Another way to ask yes/no questions is the verb-not-verb pattern (no 吗 needed):

Pattern	Example	Meaning
V 不 V	你去不去？	Are you going?
有没有	你有没有时间？	Do you have time?
Adj 不 Adj	好不好？	Is it good? / OK?

Examples in Context

Chinese	Pinyin	English	Note
你是学生吗？	Nǐ shì xuéshēng ma?	Are you a student?	吗 question
他来吗？	Tā lái ma?	Is he coming?	吗 question
好吃吗？	Hǎochī ma?	Is it delicious?	吗 question
你喜欢吗？	Nǐ xǐhuān ma?	Do you like it?	吗 question
你忙吗？	Nǐ máng ma?	Are you busy?	吗 question
你去不去？	Nǐ qù bu qù?	Are you going?	verb-not-verb
有没有咖啡？	Yǒu méiyǒu kāfēi?	Is there coffee?	有没有 pattern
好不好？	Hǎo bu hǎo?	Is it good? / OK?	adj-not-adj
是的，我是。	Shì de, wǒ shì.	Yes, I am.	affirming by repeating verb
不是，我不是。	Bú shì, wǒ bú shì.	No, I am not.	negating the verb

Common Mistakes

Changing word order for questions

• Wrong: 是你学生吗？ (Inverting like English)
• Right: 你是学生吗？ (Keep statement order, add 吗)
• Why: Chinese questions maintain the same word order as statements. Only 吗 is added.

Using 吗 with verb-not-verb questions

• Wrong: 你去不去吗？
• Right: 你去不去？ OR 你去吗？
• Why: The verb-not-verb pattern already forms a question; adding 吗 is redundant and incorrect.

Answering with "yes" or "no" directly

• Wrong: Looking for a single Chinese word for "yes"
• Right: Repeat or negate the verb: 是/不是, 有/没有, 去/不去
• Why: Chinese lacks direct equivalents of "yes" and "no." The verb from the question determines the answer form.

Practice Tips

• Practice converting every statement you know into a 吗 question. This builds questioning skills rapidly since the pattern is mechanical.
• Learn to answer questions by echoing the verb. When asked 你喜欢吗？, answer 喜欢 or 不喜欢, not a generic "yes" or "no."
• Try both 吗 and verb-not-verb forms for the same question to build flexibility.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Basic Sentence Structure -- you need statements before you can turn them into questions
• Next steps: Question Words -- learn to ask who, what, where, when, why, and how