Rhetorical questions with "nandao"
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In English, a typical rhetorical question might be: "What am I, your mum or something?" Rhetorical questions use the form of a question to emphasize a point, and as such the question does not require an answer. In Chinese, 难道 (nándào) is used as a marker to form this kind of question.
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.
Sources and further reading
Websites
Books
Boya Chinese Elementary Starter 2 (博雅汉语初经起步篇) pp.132-133 Boya Chinese Lower Intermediate 1（博雅汉语准中级加速篇）pp.91-92 Integrated Chinese: Level 2 (3rd ed) pp.120
