Learn Chinese Grammar Lesson 5

This is the fifth of five free lessons about Chinese language grammar.

Ask Questions 5

In this lesson you are going to learn how to use the following very common interrogative words.

谁	shéi	Who
什么	shén me	What
哪里	nǎ li	Where
几	jǐ	How many (used to ask about an estimated number smaller than 10)

An interrogative word may be used to raise a question and is placed where the answer is expected. Therefore, the word order of the answer is the same as that of the question, with the interrogative word being replaced by the corresponding answer. Let's see some examples:

Question 1: shéi shì lǎoshī? 谁 是 老师？ who is teacher Answer 1: mǎlì shì lǎoshī. 玛丽 是 老师。 Mary is teacher

Question 2: tā shì shéi? 她 是 谁？ she is who Answer 2: tā shì wǒmāma. 她 是 我妈妈。 she is my mother

Please note that the word order is the same in both answers and questions. The interrogative word 谁 has been replaced in the same position by the answers "Mary" and "my mother".

Question 3: nǐ chī shénme? 你 吃 什么？ you eat what Answer 3: wǒ chī píngguǒ. 我 吃 苹果。 I eat apples

Question 4: nǐ qù nǎli? 你 去 哪里？ you go where Answer 4: wǒ qù běijīng. 我 去 北京。 I go Beijing

Question 5: nǐ háizi jǐ suì? 你 孩子 几 岁？ your child how many years old Answer 5: wǒ háizi wǔ suì. 我 孩子 五 岁。 my child five years old

Click here for the next series of lessons on Mandarin Chinese tones.

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