𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬𝐞 吗 𝐚𝐧𝐝 呢 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫
Turns statements into a Yes/No question.
It’s almost like a question mark that you say out loud.
nǐ huì zhōngwen ⇉ nǐ huì zhōngwen ma
You speak Chinese. ⇉ Do you speak Chinese
zhè shì nǐ de ⇉ zhè shì nǐ de ma
This is yours. ⇉ Is this yours?
For forming queries or asking bounce-back questions.
it’s often equivalent to saying “and...?”, “what about...?”.
✦ They go at the end of the sentence.
✦ Both of them can form questions.
✦ both of them are pronounced in a neutral tone.
✦ 吗 is only for Yes/No questions, whereas 呢 cannot be used in Yes/No questions.
✦ 呢 forms open ended questions or inquiries.
✦ 呢 can be combined with question words to emphasize a query. 吗 can’t be doubled up with other question words.
↳ It would be a valid question without 呢, but by adding it, the speaker makes it clear that they’re questioning the situation or criticizing it. They’ve added a further query to it.
✦ 吗 can’t be combined directly with other question words in a statement.
✦ The only way 吗 can appear with other question words in the same sentence if it’s used to ask a Yes/No question about a condition.
（nǐ zhīdào tā wèishénme bù chī ròu ma？）
Do you know why he doesn’t eat meat?
↳吗 is appearing with another question word 为什么 in that sentence, but it’s not actually part of the sentence.
↳ There are 2 questions in this sentence. An inner question about why the person doesn’t eat meat, and an outer question about whether the listener knows the answer. (你知道吗？/他为什么不吃肉？)
↳吗 only applies to the outer question, so it doesn’t clash with the question word in the inner one.
