Rhetorical questions with "nandao"
{Grammar Box}} Rhetorical questions use the form of a question to emphasize a point, and as such the question does not require an answer. A typical English rhetorical question might be: "you're not saying you actually believe him are you?". In Chinese, 难道 (nándào) is used as a marker to form this kind of question.
For example;
- 难道 你 真的 相信 他 吗？ (You're not telling me you actually believe this guy?)
- 难道 你 是 我 妈妈 吗？ (What are you, my 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?)
- 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, and generally end with 吗.
- 难道 我 应该 给 你 多少 钱？
- 难道我们 还 要 遭受 多少 年 的 压迫？
Sources and further reading
Books
- Boya Chinese Elementary Starter 2 (博雅汉语初经起步篇) (pp. 132-3)→buy
- Boya Chinese Upper Intermediate 1 (博雅汉语中级冲刺篇) (pp. 91-2)→buy
- Integrated Chinese: Level 2, Part 1 (pp. 120) →buy
- New Practical Chinese Reader 4 (新实用汉语课本4) (pp. 83) →buy
