Summary of basic Chinese question structures

You want to ask questions in Chinese during everyday conversations. The good news is that basic Chinese questions are not too difficult. Most of them are built around a few structures that appear again and again. Below are nine basic Chinese question structures that you will encounter very often in conversation and should know well.

1. Questions with 吗 (ma)

This is probably one of the easiest ways to form a question in Chinese. 吗 (ma) is a question particle placed at the end of a statement to turn it into a yes/no question. The basic structure is simply:

Statement + 吗？

For example, 你去。 (Nǐ qù.) – You are going.

Add 吗 at the end, and it becomes:

你去吗？ (Nǐ qù ma?) – Are you going?

Here are a few more examples:

他是老师吗？ (Tā shì lǎoshī ma?) – Is he a teacher?

你喜欢咖啡吗？ (Nǐ xǐhuan kāfēi ma?) – Do you like coffee?

她今天上班吗？ (Tā jīntiān shàngbān ma?) – Is she working today?

这里可以坐吗？ (Zhèlǐ kěyǐ zuò ma?) – Can I sit here?

The easy thing to remember is that you do not need to change the word order of the sentence. Simply keep the statement as it is and add 吗 at the end to turn it into a basic question.

2. A不A questions

Besides 吗, another very common way to ask whether something is true or not is the A不A structure.

In this pattern, a verb or adjective is repeated with 不 (bù) placed between the two forms. This is often called an affirmative-negative question, and it is another common way to form yes/no questions in Chinese.

For example:

你去不去？ (Nǐ qù bu qù?) – Are you going?

你忙不忙？ (Nǐ máng bu máng?) – Are you busy?

他来不来？ (Tā lái bu lái?) – Is he coming?

这个贵不贵？ (Zhège guì bu guì?) – Is this expensive?

你冷不冷？ (Nǐ lěng bu lěng?) – Are you cold?

With two-syllable verbs, you will also often see a shortened pattern in which only the first syllable is repeated:

你喜不喜欢？ (Nǐ xǐ bu xǐhuan?) – Do you like it?

你认不认识他？ (Nǐ rèn bu rènshi tā?) – Do you know him?

你想不想去？ (Nǐ xiǎng bu xiǎng qù?) – Do you want to go?

可不可以？ (Kě bu kěyǐ?) – Is it okay? / Can I?

In terms of meaning, both 你去吗？ and 你去不去？ can mean “Are you going?” As a beginner, the important thing to remember is simply that Chinese has more than one way to form a yes/no question.

3. Questions with 呢 (ne)

呢 (ne) has several uses, but one of the most basic patterns beginners encounter is:

Noun / pronoun + 呢？

In this case, it can often be understood as “What about…?”

For example:

我很好，你呢？ (Wǒ hěn hǎo, nǐ ne?) – I’m fine. What about you?

我想喝咖啡，你呢？ (Wǒ xiǎng hē kāfēi, nǐ ne?) – I want to drink coffee. What about you?

他呢？ (Tā ne?) – What about him?

你的朋友呢？ (Nǐ de péngyou ne?) – What about your friend?

现在呢？ (Xiànzài ne?) – What about now?

One useful thing about 呢 is that you do not always need to repeat the entire question. If the context is already clear, you can simply mention the person or thing you want to ask about and add 呢.

For example, someone asks you 你好吗？ (Nǐ hǎo ma?) – How are you? After answering 我很好 (Wǒ hěn hǎo) – I’m fine, you do not need to repeat the full question. You can simply say 你呢？ (Nǐ ne?) – What about you?

4. Questions with 什么, 谁, and 哪儿 / 哪里

When you are not asking a yes/no question but need a specific piece of information, you will often use question words such as:

什么 (shénme) – what
谁 (shéi) – who
哪儿 / 哪里 (nǎr / nǎlǐ) – where

One important feature of Chinese is that the question word usually stays in the same position where the answer would normally appear, rather than being moved to the beginning of the sentence as it often is in English.

Words such as 什么, 谁, 哪儿, 为什么, 怎么 all work as question words in this way.

With 什么:

你在做什么？ (Nǐ zài zuò shénme?) – What are you doing?

你想吃什么？ (Nǐ xiǎng chī shénme?) – What do you want to eat?

你买了什么？ (Nǐ mǎi le shénme?) – What did you buy?

这是什么？ (Zhè shì shénme?) – What is this?

什么 can also be used together with a noun:

你叫什么名字？ (Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?) – What is your name?

你喜欢什么颜色？ (Nǐ xǐhuan shénme yánsè?) – What color do you like?

你想看什么电影？ (Nǐ xiǎng kàn shénme diànyǐng?) – What movie do you want to watch?

With 谁:

他是谁？ (Tā shì shéi?) – Who is he?

谁来了？ (Shéi lái le?) – Who came?

你在等谁？ (Nǐ zài děng shéi?) – Who are you waiting for?

你跟谁一起去？ (Nǐ gēn shéi yìqǐ qù?) – Who are you going with?

With 哪儿 / 哪里:

你去哪儿？ (Nǐ qù nǎr?) – Where are you going?

你住在哪里？ (Nǐ zhù zài nǎlǐ?) – Where do you live?

我的手机在哪儿？ (Wǒ de shǒujī zài nǎr?) – Where is my phone?

我们在哪里见面？ (Wǒmen zài nǎlǐ jiànmiàn?) – Where should we meet?

5. The difference between 怎么 and 怎么样

怎么 (zěnme) and 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng) look similar, so beginners can easily confuse them. However, they are usually used for two different types of questions.

怎么 + verb is commonly used to ask how an action is performed — in other words, “How do you do this?”, “How do you get there?”, or “How is this used?”

For example, if someone gives you a device you have never used before, you can ask:

这个怎么用？ (Zhège zěnme yòng?) – How do you use this?

Other examples include:

你怎么去学校？ (Nǐ zěnme qù xuéxiào?) – How do you get to school?

这个字怎么读？ (Zhège zì zěnme dú?) – How do you pronounce this character?

这个菜怎么做？ (Zhège cài zěnme zuò?) – How do you make this dish?

这个怎么喝？ (Zhège zěnme hē?) – How do you drink this?

这个用中文怎么说？ (Zhège yòng Zhōngwén zěnme shuō?) – How do you say this in Chinese?

In contrast, 怎么样 is often used to ask what someone or something is like, or to ask for an opinion or evaluation.

For example:

你觉得这个餐厅怎么样？ (Nǐ juéde zhège cāntīng zěnmeyàng?) – What do you think of this restaurant?

这部电影怎么样？ (Zhè bù diànyǐng zěnmeyàng?) – How is this movie?

你的新工作怎么样？ (Nǐ de xīn gōngzuò zěnmeyàng?) – How is your new job?

这个办法怎么样？ (Zhège bànfǎ zěnmeyàng?) – How about this solution?

你最近怎么样？ (Nǐ zuìjìn zěnmeyàng?) – How have you been recently?

A simple way to remember the difference is that 怎么 usually asks “How do you do it?”, while 怎么样 is closer to “How is it?”, “What is it like?”, or “What do you think of it?”

6. Questions with 为什么 (wèishénme)

为什么 (wèishénme) means “why” and is used when asking for a reason.

It can appear before a verb, verb phrase, or the part of the sentence whose reason you want to ask about.

For example:

你为什么不来？ (Nǐ wèishénme bù lái?) – Why aren’t you coming?

他为什么生气？ (Tā wèishénme shēngqì?) – Why is he angry?

你为什么学中文？ (Nǐ wèishénme xué Zhōngwén?) – Why are you learning Chinese?

她为什么哭？ (Tā wèishénme kū?) – Why is she crying?

为什么这么贵？ (Wèishénme zhème guì?) – Why is it so expensive?

你昨天为什么没去上班？ (Nǐ zuótiān wèishénme méi qù shàngbān?) – Why didn’t you go to work yesterday?

There is no need to make this structure too complicated. Whenever you want to ask “why?”, 为什么 is usually the first word to think of.

7. Questions with 几 and 多少

Both 几 (jǐ) and 多少 (duōshao) are used to ask about quantity, but they are not used in exactly the same way.

There is no need to treat the difference between 几 and 多少 as an absolute rule. At the beginner level, it is enough to remember that 几 generally suggests a relatively small quantity, while 多少 means “how many” or “how much” across a broader range.

A very common structure with 几 is:

几 + measure word + noun？

For example:

你家有几个人？ (Nǐ jiā yǒu jǐ ge rén?) – How many people are in your family?

你想买几本书？ (Nǐ xiǎng mǎi jǐ běn shū?) – How many books do you want to buy?

你要几杯咖啡？ (Nǐ yào jǐ bēi kāfēi?) – How many cups of coffee do you want?

你有几个朋友？ (Nǐ yǒu jǐ ge péngyou?) – How many friends do you have?

你几岁？ (Nǐ jǐ suì?) – How old are you?

Generally, 几 is used when the speaker expects the number to be relatively small or within a fairly limited range.

多少, on the other hand, has a wider range and is often used when the quantity is unknown or could be relatively large. It is also more flexible because, in many cases, a measure word is not required.

For example:

多少钱？ (Duōshao qián?) – How much is it?

你们学校有多少学生？ (Nǐmen xuéxiào yǒu duōshao xuésheng?) – How many students are there at your school?

这里有多少人？ (Zhèlǐ yǒu duōshao rén?) – How many people are here?

你学了多少汉字？ (Nǐ xué le duōshao Hànzì?) – How many Chinese characters have you learned?

从这里到北京有多少公里？ (Cóng zhèlǐ dào Běijīng yǒu duōshao gōnglǐ?) – How many kilometers is it from here to Beijing?

8. Negative questions for confirmation

Another type of question that appears very often in conversation but can confuse beginners is the negative question.

In this type of question, the speaker uses a negative form to confirm something they believe to be true, express surprise, or sometimes challenge what the other person has said or done.

For example, imagine that you think someone is a student, but then you notice that they seem to go to work every day. You might ask:

你不是学生吗？ (Nǐ bú shì xuésheng ma?) – Aren’t you a student?

Or imagine that it is the weekend, but someone is still getting ready to go to work:

今天不是周末吗？ (Jīntiān bú shì zhōumò ma?) – Isn’t today the weekend?

The pattern 不是……吗？ can function as a simple rhetorical or confirmation question. Depending on the context and tone of voice, it may be a genuine question, express surprise, or sound more like a reminder or challenge.

Here are a few more examples:

你不去吗？ (Nǐ bú qù ma?) – Aren’t you going?

你不喜欢这个吗？ (Nǐ bù xǐhuan zhège ma?) – Don’t you like this?

他不是你朋友吗？ (Tā bú shì nǐ péngyou ma?) – Isn’t he your friend?

你昨天不是说要来吗？ (Nǐ zuótiān bú shì shuō yào lái ma?) – Didn’t you say yesterday that you were coming?

我们不是已经说好了吗？ (Wǒmen bú shì yǐjīng shuō hǎo le ma?) – Didn’t we already agree on this?

The exact meaning depends heavily on the context and the speaker’s tone. The question may simply be asking for confirmation, expressing surprise, or sounding slightly challenging.

9. Choice questions with 还是 (háishì)

The final structure is a choice question with 还是 (háishì).

When you want to give the listener two or more options and ask them to choose, the basic structure is:

A + 还是 + B？

A very common example is:

你喝茶还是咖啡？ (Nǐ hē chá háishì kāfēi?) – Would you like tea or coffee?

A and B do not have to be nouns. They can also be times, actions, adjectives, or entire phrases.

For example:

今天去还是明天去？ (Jīntiān qù háishì míngtiān qù?) – Are you going today or tomorrow?

你想坐车还是走路？ (Nǐ xiǎng zuò chē háishì zǒulù?) – Do you want to take a vehicle or walk?

你吃米饭还是面条？ (Nǐ chī mǐfàn háishì miàntiáo?) – Do you want rice or noodles?

这个好还是那个好？ (Zhège hǎo háishì nàge hǎo?) – Is this one better or that one?

你在家吃还是出去吃？ (Nǐ zài jiā chī háishì chūqù chī?) – Are you eating at home or going out to eat?

你想自己去还是跟我们一起去？ (Nǐ xiǎng zìjǐ qù háishì gēn wǒmen yìqǐ qù?) – Do you want to go by yourself or go with us?

The important point is that 还是 here does not simply mean “or”. It is used to present choices inside a question and ask the listener to select one of them.

When you look at these structures one by one, basic Chinese questions are actually quite manageable. 吗 and A不A are used when you want to know whether something is true or not; 呢 is useful for asking “What about…?”; 什么, 谁, 哪儿/哪里 help you ask for specific information; 怎么, 怎么样, and 为什么 are used to ask about methods, conditions or opinions, and reasons; 几 and 多少 are used for quantities; negative questions help confirm something you believe to be true; and 还是 is used when you want the listener to choose between different options.

The most useful thing is not simply memorizing these nine structures, but seeing and using them repeatedly in real sentences. Once questions such as 你去吗？ (Nǐ qù ma?) – Are you going?, 你去不去？ (Nǐ qù bu qù?) – Are you going?, 你呢？ (Nǐ ne?) – What about you?, 你想吃什么？ (Nǐ xiǎng chī shénme?) – What do you want to eat?, and 你喝茶还是咖啡？ (Nǐ hē chá háishì kāfēi?) – Would you like tea or coffee? start to feel familiar, forming your own questions in Chinese will gradually become much more natural.