Difference between revisions of "Marking a topic with "ma""

Revision as of 09:19, 16 May 2018

Level

B2 / HSK5
Level

B2
Level

HSK5
Similar to
- Expressing the self-evident with "ma" (B1)
- Topic-comment sentences (B1)
- Marking a topic with "de hua" (B2)
Similar to
- Topic-comment sentences (HSK0)
- Marking a topic with "de hua" (HSK5)
- Expressing the self-evident with "ma" (HSK6)
Used for

Marking a topic
Keywords

嘛

This article is a stub. Editors can help the Chinese Grammar Wiki by expanding it.

嘛 (ma) can be used for topic marking. It basically allows the speaker to state the topic, then gather his thoughts before making a comment on it. In this pattern, the following comment may or may not be one the speaker feels is obvious.

Structure

Topic + 嘛，Statement

Examples

大熊猫嘛，大家都喜欢。Dà xióngmāo ma, dàjiā dōu xǐhuan.Pandas. Everybody likes them.
名牌嘛，一定不便宜。Míngpái ma, yīdìng bù piányi.Brandname. It can't be cheap.
第一次嘛，以后就会了。Dì-yī cì ma, yǐhòu jiù huì le.First time. You'll learn soon.
孩子嘛，不懂这些很正常。Háizi ma, bù dǒng zhèxiē hěn zhèngcháng.Kids. It's common that they don't understand these things .
老板请客嘛，当然要大方。Lǎobǎn qǐngkè ma, dāngrán yào dàfang.The boss is buying. Of course I need to be generous.

Sources and further reading

Books

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 {{Stub}}
-嘛 (ma) can be used for topic Marking. It basically allows the speaker to state the topic, then gather his thoughts before making a comment on it. In this pattern, the following comment may or may not be one the speaker feels is obvious.
+嘛 (ma) can be used for topic marking. It basically allows the speaker to state the topic, then gather his thoughts before making a comment on it. In this pattern, the following comment may or may not be one the speaker feels is obvious.
 == Structure ==