Ask Your First Chinese Questions with 吗 (ma)
Turn a statement into a yes-or-no question by adding 吗, and learn one common mistake to avoid.
October 11, 2026 1 min readGrammar
Add 吗 to a statement
One common way to ask a yes-or-no question is to add 吗 at the end.
Example
你是学生。
You are a student.
Example
你是学生吗？
Are you a student?
吗 is pronounced with a neutral tone.
Answer with the relevant verb
For "你是学生吗？", you can answer 是 ("Yes, I am") or 不是 ("No, I am not").
Chinese does not use one universal word for "yes" in every situation.
Do not add 吗 to every question
Questions that already use words such as 什么 ("what") usually do not need 吗 in a neutral information question.
Example
你喝什么？
What do you drink?
For now, practice using 吗 with simple yes-or-no questions.