Difference between revisions of "Affirmative-negative questions"

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A common way to form questions in Chinese is to repeat and negate the verb. The structure is:
+
#REDIRECT [[Affirmative-negative question]]
 
 
<div class="jiegou">
 
 
 
Verb + 不 + Verb
 
 
 
</div>
 
 
 
It can also be done with adjectives (adjectives often behave like verbs in Chinese):
 
 
 
<div class="jiegou">
 
 
 
Adjective + 不 + Adjective
 
 
 
</div>
 
 
 
For example:
 
 
 
<div class="liju">
 
 
 
* 你 <em>是 不是</em> 大人?
 
 
 
</div>
 
 
 
This is something like adding tag questions in English, in this case "Are you an adult or not?" If you wanted to translate it very literally, it would be "Are you or are you not an adult?" In any case, the structure is a very common way to ask questions in Chinese. The general sentence structure is:
 
 
 
<div class="jiegou">
 
 
 
Subject + Verb + 不 + Verb + Object
 
 
 
</div>
 
 
 
Some examples:
 
 
 
<div class="liju">
 
 
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
|+Positive negative questions
 
|-
 
! Subject !! <em>Verb</em> !! <em>不</em> !! <em>Verb</em> !! Object !!
 
|-
 
| 她 || <em>是</em> || <em>不</em> || <em>是</em> || 中国人 || ?
 
|-
 
| 他 || <em>吃</em> || <em>不</em> || <em>吃</em> || 肉 || ?
 
|-
 
| 你 || <em>想</em> || <em>不</em> || <em>想</em> || 我 || ?
 
|}
 
 
 
</div>
 
 
 
== 有 in positive-negative questions ==
 
 
 
Because 有 is negated with 没 and not 不, the structure for positive-negative questions with 有 is:
 
 
 
<div class="jiegou">
 
 
 
Subject + 有没有 + Object
 
 
 
</div>
 
 
 
This could be for sentences about the present and possession, or to ask about verbs in the past. For example:
 
 
 
<div class="liju">
 
 
 
* 你 <em>有 没有</em> 我的 钱?
 
* 你 <em>有 没有</em> 看过 那 部 电影?
 
 
 
</div>
 
 
 
== Two-character verbs in positive-negative questions ==
 
 
 
All of the verbs used so far have been single-character verbs. Using two-characters verbs in positive-negative questions is slightly trickier. You usually put 不 after the first character, then put the entire verb. For example 喜不喜欢 is the usual question form of 喜欢. You can repeat the whole two-character verb twice, but it's more common (and more elegant) to insert 不 after the first character. For example:
 
 
 
<div class="liju">
 
 
 
* 喜欢不喜欢
 
* 喜不喜欢
 
 
 
* 高兴不高兴
 
* 高不高兴
 
 
 
* 起飞没起飞
 
* 起没起飞
 
 
 
</div>
 
 
 
[[Category:A1 grammar points]]
 

Latest revision as of 04:14, 13 November 2014