All patterns
Questions
Every way to ask: question particles, question words, and rhetorical questions.
Questions 6
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.
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?
Reading about grammar is not the same as using it.
The Merry Mandarin app turns every pattern here into spaced-repetition practice, native audio and graded stories — until it becomes instinct.