Softening the tone of questions with "ne"
Revision as of 09:24, 7 November 2011 by Jonathan.pope (talk | contribs) (Created page with "We have seen before that 吧 can be used soften the tone of statements, them commands feel more like suggestions. 呢 works the same, but it is used to modify the tone of a quest...")
We have seen before that 吧 can be used soften the tone of statements, them commands feel more like suggestions. 呢 works the same, but it is used to modify the tone of a question, making it more indirect and uncertain.
V + N + 呢+ 还是 V + N + 呢 +(还是...)
去缅甸呢，还是去越南呢？还是去泰国呢？我真不知道！ 打电脑游戏呢，还是跟朋友去泡酒吧呢，都不太好！
这是谁的笔呢? (I wonder whose pen this is 这是谁做的呢 (I wonder who did this?)
In the previous example, the speaker seems has a tone of conjecture, is curious and perhaps
in some cases might be almost talking to him/herself, or asking with a tone of curiosity
When used with an interogative pronoun like 谁, 哪儿,
If a "verb 不 verb" question is posed without 呢, it can appear as though the speaker is a bit impatient, or is ordering the listener to do something. This of course depends on the tone of voice used.
- 你 去 不 去 逛街 呢？(Are you going to go shopping?)
- 你 去 不 去 逛街 (Well are you going to go shopping or what??)
- 牛奶你喝不喝 (Said to a child, with the implication that if the milk isn't drunk, there will be consequences)
- 牛奶你喝不喝呢 (Perhaps said to a friend, with no implication of coercion)
