Difference between revisions of "Rhetorical questions with "nandao""

Revision as of 08:33, 30 January 2012

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

Websites

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_question

@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 == Sources and further reading ==
-=== Websites ===
-* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_question
 === Books ===
@@ Line 33: / Line 29: @@
 * [[Integrated Chinese: Level 2, Part 1]] (pp. 120) [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0887276792/ref%3das_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=allset-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0887276792 →buy]
 * [[New Practical Chinese Reader 4 (新实用汉语课本4)]] (pp. 83) [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/7561913192/ref%3das_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=allset-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=7561913192 →buy]
+=== Websites ===
+* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_question
 [[Category: B2 grammar points]]