Questions

Add 吗 (ma) to the end of any statement to make a yes/no question — no word-order change. A confirmation word + 吗 (对吗？好吗？) turns it into a tag question: “…, right? / OK?”.

Tag a V-不-V confirmation onto a statement — 对不对？(right?), 是不是？(isn't it?), 好不好？(OK?) — to check a fact or soften a suggestion. It's the lively twin of the 吗 tag.

还是 (háishì) is “or” — but only when you're offering a choice in a question (茶还是咖啡?). For “or” in a statement, Chinese uses a different word, 或者. 还是 also stays inside embedded questions (“I don't know if A or B”).

呢 (ne) makes quick “what about…?” questions — add it to a topic (你呢？= “and you?”). It also asks “where is…?” when the thing is already on everyone's mind (钱呢？).

Chinese question words — 什么 (what), 谁 (who), 哪儿 (where), 什么时候 (when), 为什么 (why), 怎么 (how), 多少 (how many) — stay exactly where the answer would go. No fronting, no rearranging.

怎么 (zěnme) means “how” — and it goes right before the verb (你怎么去？), never at the front like English. Often the topic comes first: 芒果怎么吃？

怎么样 (zěnmeyàng) asks “how is …? / what’s … like?” and it’s a complete question on its own — just put it after the topic: 你最近怎么样？(“how have you been?”), 这家饭馆怎么样？(“how’s this restaurant?”). For an opinion: 你觉得 + topic + 怎么样？(“what do you think of …?”).

A rhetorical question makes a point instead of asking for information: the answer is already obvious. Chinese builds them from words you know, in fixed frames, each with its own attitude. 不是……吗？is the friendly reminder (“isn’t it the case that…?”), 能不……吗？is sarcastic (“how could … not …?”), 怎么会……？is disbelief (“how could that be?”), and 谁让你……？is annoyed blame (“who told you to…?”).

到底 (dàodǐ) literally means “to the bottom,” and that image runs through its three uses. The flagship one is the emphatic question: 到底 turns a plain question into an exasperated “what on earth?!” (你到底怎么了？). It also works as an adverb meaning “after all / in the end,” fronting a decisive reason (到底是老师), and as “finally,” on a long-awaited result with 了 (公交车到底来了).

究竟 (jiūjìng) is the more formal way to sharpen a question into “what exactly / on earth?!” It comes in two question shapes, 究竟 + question word (这究竟是怎么回事？) and 究竟 + V不V (你究竟去不去？), and it also emphasizes a fact “after all” with 是 (孩子究竟是孩子). It's the written, careful-speech twin of the spoken 到底.

难道 (nándào) marks a rhetorical question, one that makes a point rather than asking for an answer: 难道 + [yes/no question] + 吗？ (难道你不知道吗？, “don't tell me you don't know?!”). It voices disbelief or challenge and flips the polarity: 难道 + a negative question asserts the positive. English doesn't mark rhetorical questions with a word, so this takes practice. It's for yes/no rhetoricals, not real information questions.

Tack 呢 (ne) onto the end of a question and it softens the tone: the question turns indirect, tentative, more like musing aloud or “I wonder…” than a demand. It rides on the question types that don't use 吗: choice questions (先吃饭呢，还是先看电影呢？), interrogative-pronoun questions (他去哪里了呢？, “where's he gone, I wonder?”), and V不V questions (你去不去呢？, gentler than the blunt 你去不去？). It can't stack with 吗, and it doesn't create a question by itself; it only softens one that's already there.