Learn Chinese for Free - Lesson 16
Today's Chinese characters:
吗口马
This course will guide you to learn a lot of different ways of asking a question. Today you're going to learn the most frequently used one.
Character Knowledge Meter |
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15.5%
Today with this lesson your knowledge of Chinese characters will reach 15.5% of all the Chinese language usage! |
Characters' Essentials
- | Used at the end of a declarative sentence to transform it into a question |
- | Mouth |
- | Horse |
Description and Examples
The Chinese character 吗 is composed of two parts: 口 and 马. Can you imagine a horse with a big question mark instead of its mouth?
Sentence Structure 8 |
How to say: How are you? Just add 吗 to the greeting formula "你好!" changing it into a question! How are you? 你好吗? literally: You good吗? Anyway, please be careful, because its usage actually differs from the English greeting "How are you?" While the English "How are you?" is also an everyday greeting, in Chinese you should ask 你好吗? only if you really want to ask about the state of health or condition of a friend, not just as a greeting. |
Exercise
Make sentences by rearranging the given words.
1) 的 你 我 是 吗 医生 ?
2) 吗 是 她 老师 ?
That's all for today. I wish you like my website and go on clicking and clicking on its other sections!
Characters' Details
Chinese Character 35 of 1000
appearance score: # 453
frequency: 0.0473576%
- | (Used at the end of a declarative sentence to transform it into a question) |
- | (Used in the middle of a sentence to emphasize, with a little pause, the topic of conversation) |
- | What |
- | (First character of the Chinese word for 'morphine': 吗啡) |
This character has two different traditional versions.


Chinese Character 36 of 1000
appearance score: # 212
frequency: 0.0991896%
- | Mouth; rim; opening; department; gateway of the Great Wall (often used in place names); cut, hole; edge of a knife; age of a draft animal |
- | (Measure word for: 1. people in the family; 2. domestic animals, especially pigs; 3. utensils with a hole or an edge; 4. languages; 5. mouthfuls of something) |
- | (A surname) |
There's no difference between the simplified and the traditional version of this character.
Chinese Character 37 of 1000
appearance score: # 276
frequency: 0.0805006%
This character has a different traditional version.
I will contact you ASAP!