Placement of question words
Question words are one way to form questions in Chinese. In English, question words are also known as wh-words, as the majority of them begin with wh:
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| who | 谁 | shéi |
| what | 什么 | shénme |
| where | 哪里 | nǎli |
| when | 什么时候 | shénme shíhou |
| why | 为什么 | wèishénme |
| how | 怎么 | zěnme |
In English, question words have to be placed at the beginning of the sentence. This involves changing the word order to allow this rearrangement. In Chinese, using question words is a lot simpler. You simply place a question word in the place of the thing you want to ask about. Nothing needs to be rearranged.
So if the statement is
- 你 是 小李。
the question form - "who are you?" - has the same word order:
- 你 是 谁？
This works for whatever it is you want to ask about. The question form has the same word order as the statement form.
An example for asking and telling what:
- 这 是 什么？
- 这 是 书。
An example for asking and telling where:
- 你 在 哪里？
- 你 在 北京。
An example for asking and telling when:
- 你 什么时候 来了？
- 你 昨天 来了。
An example for asking and telling why:
- 你 为什么 学 中文？
- 你 为了 工作 学 中文。
An example for asking and telling how:
- 你 怎么 学习 中文？
- 你 用 课本 学习 中文。
See also
Sources and further reading
Books
- Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar (pp. 23) →buy
- New Practical Chinese Reader 1 (新实用汉语课本1) (pp. 57) →buy
