Practise the thinking. Keep the judgement.
Chinese questions: 吗、是不是 and question words
Original Chinese study material with English explanations. Simplified Chinese with pinyin; beginner, intermediate and advanced are editorial difficulty labels.
Add 吗 (ma) to many statements to make a yes–no question. An affirmative–negative form such as 是不是 also asks for confirmation. Question words normally remain in the position of the answer.
你喝茶吗？
Nǐ hē chá ma?
Do you drink tea?
你住在哪里？
Nǐ zhù zài nǎlǐ?
Where do you live?
A basic question with 谁、什么 or 哪里 does not also need 吗. 是不是 asks about “be”; other verbs have their own affirmative–negative forms.
Try it
Choose “What do you want to eat?”
- 你想吃什么？
- 什么你想吃吗？
- 你想吃什么吗？
Answer and explanation
你想吃什么？. 什么 occupies the object position after 吃.