There are two ways to ask yes / no questions in Mandarin: with the “ma” particle, or by using a positive / negative sentence structure.

Ma

The particle “ma” can be added to the end of any sentence to make it into a question. For example, if you want to ask, “Have you eaten?” (which is a standard greeting), you would say, “chi bao le ma?” ?????

The answer to this question could be, “chi bao le” (I have eaten) ???, or “hái méi” (not yet) ??.

Postive / Negative

An alternate way to ask questions is to include both the positive and negative forms of the verb.

Negative verbs are usually formed with “bù” ? as in “bù hao ??” (not good), but occasionally the particle “méi ?” is used, as in “méi you” ?? (don’t have). Note that both “bù” and “méi” are used in front of the verb.

Examples

Ni yào bu yào qù Beijing? (Do you or don’t you want to go to Beijing?)
????????
Or:
Ni yào qù Beijing ma?
???????

Ta you méi you bi jì ben? (Does he or doesn’t he have a notebook?)
????????
Or:
Ta you bi jì ben ma?
???????

Ni zhi bù zhi dào ta de míng zi? (Do you or don’t you know his name?)
??????????
Or:
Ni zhi dào ta de míng zi ma?

In the examples above, the verbs are yào (want); you (have); and zhi dào (know).

When the positive / negative form is used with two-character verbs (like zhi dào), the verb is split after the first character, as in “zhi bù zhi dào.”

Asking "wh" questions