Questions with "le ma"

Asking questions about completed actions will involve using both 了 and 吗. These are simply added to the end of a sentence or statement. This means you might see questions with 了 and 吗 in different structures.

General structure

Subject + Verb + Object + 了吗?

Examples

  • 你 去 了 吗Did you go?
  • 你 吃饭 了 吗Did you eat?
  • 你 看 了 吗Did you see?
  • 他走 了 吗Did he leave?
  • 你 喝 酒 了 吗Did you drink alcohol?
  • 你 做 了 吗Did you make it?
  • 她 笑 了 吗Did she laugh?
  • 你 给 我 打 电话 了 吗Did you call me?
  • 你 今天 喝 咖啡 了 吗Did you drink coffee today?
  • 你 吃 水果 了 吗Did you eat fruit?

Structure with a Topic

Topic + (Subject) + Verb + 了吗?

NOTE: in this structure, the topic is also the object for the Verb.

Examples

  • 北京 你 去 了 吗Did you go to Beijing?
  • 晚饭 你 吃 了 吗Did you eat a dinner?
  • 电影 你 看 了 吗Did you see the movie?
  • 作业 你 写 了 吗Did you do homework?
  • 这 本 书 你 读 了 吗Did you read this book?
  • 衣服 你 买 了 吗Did you buy clothes?
  • 酒 你 喝 了 吗Did you drink alcohol?
  • 电话 你 给 我 打 了 吗Did you call me?
  • 咖啡 你 今天 喝 了 吗Did you drink coffee today?
  • 水果 你 吃 了 吗Did you eat fruit?

Notice that in these examples the object is introduced first as a topic.

Finally, please notice that this pattern is nothing more than the combination of the Expressing completion with le pattern and the Yes - no questions with ma pattern.

See also


Sources and further reading

Books