Rhetorical questions with "nandao"
Revision as of 02:11, 7 November 2011 by Jonathan.pope (talk | contribs)
In English, someone might say: "So you think you're clever do you?" with the implication that the listener is perhaps not the brightest of buttons. Rhetorical questions use the form of a question to emphasize a point, meaning the question does not require an answer. In Chinese, 难道 (nándào) is used as a marker to form such rhetorical questions.
For example;
- 难道 我 是 你 妈妈 吗? (What am I, your mother or something?)
- 今天 是 我 的 生日，难道 你 不 知道 吗？ (Today's my birthday, you're not telling me you forgot?)
- 看 着 我 一身 破烂 的 衣服，我 不由得 想，难道 我 一辈子 都 要 当 一 个 穷光蛋 吗？(Looking at rags I was wearing, I couldn't help thinking, am I going to end up being a pauper the whole of my life?)
- 难道 跟 我 一起 走 一辈子 不 浪漫 吗？ (So "till death do us part" isn't romantic enough for you is it?)
Note that 难道 can only be used for rhetorical questions which could be answered with yes or no.
