2014年12月2日星期二

Lesson 4: Yes? No?

Compare to English, I think the structure of question sentence in Chinese is much easier. The yes-or-no question is pretty similar as a statement sentence. The only difference is the question mark character ‘吗’(ma). Put ‘吗’(ma) at the end of a statement sentence and now you are asking question.
Let’s take sentences we learnt as an example:
Statement: ()(shì)Vera= I’m Vera.
Question: ()(shì)Vera(ma)= Am I Vera?

Statement: ()(ài)()= I love you.
Question: ()(ài)()吗?= Do I love you? (Actually ‘()(ài)()(ma)’ is more useful. It is said in a relationship, it’s a most frequent asked question by a girl.)

There is no order changing in a yes-or-no question in Chinese. When you know a statement sentence, you can always changed it to a question. Notices: you still need a question mark ‘?’, although you already have ‘(ma)’.

The answer for such a question is easy, too. In most cases:
yes=(shì)
no=()
A()(ài)()(ma)
B(shì)

A()(shì)Vera(ma)
B()

I know you learnt something now. But all this you can find on textbook. Why do you read this? Because I have something that not on textbook. Every time, when I taught this in class, I was confused. I noticed though ‘(shì) and ‘() are standard answers to a yes-or-no question, not a lot of people will really use that. So let’s see how a real Chinese will answer the question:
A()(shì)Vera(ma)
B(shì)(de)
I guess modern Chinese language prefers a two syllables, so a lot of people will use ‘是的’(shìde) instead of ‘(shì)’.

A()()(huan)(gǒu)(ma)
B(èn)
This one is always used with a nod. It’s also often used in a call. I will say ‘嗯’(èn), ‘嗯’(èn), ‘嗯’(èn) during a call just like you will say  ‘yes’, ‘yes’, ‘yes’.

A()喜欢(xǐhuan)咖啡(kāfēi)(ma)
B喜欢(xǐhuan)/()()(huan)
Repeat the verb is another common way to express ‘yes’. For negative, use ‘’+ verb.




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