In Mandarin Chinese, there are “wh-” question words for “what,” “where,” “which,” “who,” “when,” and “why” questions, such as 什么 (shénme, what), 哪里 (nǎlǐ) / 哪儿 (nǎr, where), 哪个 (nǎge, which), 谁 (shéi, who), 谁 (shéide, whose), 什么时候 (shénme shíhou,, when), and 为什么 (wèishénme, why). There are also “how” question words, such as 怎么 (zěnme, how), 几 (jǐ, how many (<10)), and 多少 (duōshǎo, how many/how much), 多大 (duōdà, how big, how old…).
The above question words can be placed before a verb (which is an action word, e.g. “run”) or after it, depending on what you are asking about. For example,
谁来了?
(Shéi lái le?)
Who has come?
你叫谁?
(Nǐ jiào shéi?)
Who are you calling?
In the first sentence, the question word 谁 (shéi, who) is before the verb 来 (lái, come). In the second sentence, the same question word is after the verb. When you ask, “Who has come?”, “who” should be put before the verb, but when you ask, “Who are you calling?”, “who” should be put after the verb.
Sometimes, the question words may also be placed before a noun (a person or an item, e.g. “teacher”). In the following sentence, 谁的 (shéide, whose) is used before a noun (“book”):
这是谁的书？
(Zhè shì shéide shū?)
Whose book is this?
Are you curious to know where to place “wh-” and “how” question words in Mandarin and which they are? Let’s dive in for more!
I bet you want to know the golden rule about where to place “wh-” and “how” question words in a sentence. Well, your wish is granted. There is indeed a golden rule: question words should be placed in the position you are asking about.
Statement | Statement |
|---|---|
他是老师。 (Tā shì lǎoshī.) He is the teacher. | 他是谁? (Tā shì shéi?) Who is he? |
八点上课。 (Bādiǎn shàngkè.) Class is at 8 o’clock. (lit.) At 8 o’clock is class. | 什么时候上课？ (Shénme shíhou shàngkè?) When is the class? |
As the above examples show, “who” and “when” in the questions replace “teacher” and “8 o’clock” in the statements. The questions have the same word order as the statements. To make a “wh-” question, you simply replace the part of the statement where you're seeking information with a question word. For example, the statement is “He is the teacher” and if you want to ask about “the teacher,” you place “who” where the phrase “the teacher” is in the statement: “He is who?” This is the word order in the Mandarin question! This is not like English, where you need to change the word order to turn a statement into a question.
There are six common “wh-” question words in Mandarin Chinese.
Question words | Examples |
|---|---|
什么 (shénme, what) | 什么是音乐？ (Shénme shì yīnyuè?) What is music? 你喜欢什么音乐？ (Nǐ xǐhuan shénme yīnyuè?) What music do you like? |
哪里 (nǎlǐ, where) / 哪儿 (nǎr, where) | 哪儿能买到这本书 (Nǎr néng mǎi dào zhè běn shū?) Where can I buy this book? 你家在哪里？ (Nǐ jiā zài nǎlǐ?) Where is your home? |
哪个 (nǎge, which) | 哪个是你的？ (Nǎge shì nǐ de?) Which is yours? 你要哪个？ (Nǐ yào nǎge?) Which do you want? |
谁 (shéi, who) | 谁在楼上？ (Shéi zài lóushàng?) Who is upstairs? 楼上是谁的房间？ (Lóushàng shì shéi de fángjiān?) Whose room is upstairs? |
什么时候 (shénme shíhou, when) | 飞机什么时候起飞？ (Fēijī shénme shíhou qǐfēi?) When does the plane take off? 你喜欢什么音乐？ (Nǐ xǐhuan shénme yīnyuè?) What music do you like? |
为什么 (wèishénme, why) | 你为什么学习中文？ (Nǐ wèishénme xuéxí Zhōngwén?) Why are you studying Chinese? 你喜欢什么音乐？ (Nǐ xǐhuan shénme yīnyuè?) What music do you like? |
When using “wh-” question words in Mandarin Chinese, remember that:
哪里 (nǎlǐ, where) and 哪儿 (nǎr, where) are interchangeable. 哪里 (nǎlǐ) is used mostly in southern China and 哪儿 (nǎr) in northern China.
In Mandarin, time phrases such as “when,” can be used at the beginning or after the and before the verb.
To say “whose” in Mandarin, you use the word 谁 (shéi, who) and the particle 的 that is used to express possession.
The “wh-” and “how” questions are commonly used with the "是 … 的" (shì … de) structure for past events. The "是 … 的" (shì … de) structure emphasizes the text between the two words. For example,
飞机(是)什么时候起飞的？
(Fēijī (shì) shénme shíhou qǐfēi de?)
When did the plane take off?
In this example the emphasis falls on 什么时候起飞 (when take off). Did you notice that in the "是 … 的" (shì … de) structure, 是 (shì) can be dropped?
Here are some more examples with “wh-” questions. Remember that the word order is different in Mandarin from in English:
你和谁去看电影了？
(Nǐ hé shéi qù kàn diànyǐng le?)
With whom did you see the movie？
你要给谁买这个？
(Nǐ yào gěi shéi mǎi zhège?)
For whom are you buying this?
The “how” questions in Mandarin Chinese follow the same pattern as the “wh-” questions. That is, questions have the same word order as statements. Check out the examples in the following table:
Question word | Example |
|---|---|
怎么 (zěnme, how) | 这个字怎么写？ (Zhège zì zěnme xiě?) How do you write this word? |
几 (jǐ, how many (<10)) | 来了几个人？ (Lái le jǐ ge rén?) How many people are here? |
多少 (duōshǎo, how many/how much) | 你挣多少钱？ (Nǐ zhèng duōshǎo qián?) How much do you earn? |
多大 (duōdà, how big, how old…) | 你多大了 (Nǐ duōdà le?) How old are you? |
You may be wondering why you are learning these last two questions, since you may not use them. Sure, in your culture asking about other people’s salary and age may be something unusual. It is not necessarily odd in Chinese culture though, so it is good to know them!
One of the common uses of 几 is in the question 几点了？ (Jǐ diǎn le?, What time is it?). 几 is usually used for numbers less than 10, only works with (e.g. books), and tends to come with measure words (e.g. two bottles of water). For example, if you talk about a child, you can ask 他几岁了？ (Tā jǐ suìle, How old is he?). However, you would not ask this question when referring to an adult, because they are older than 10. Instead, you may ask 他多大了? (Tā duōdà le?, How old is he?).
In Mandarin, we add 吗 (ma) at the end of a statement to form a yes/no question, and for “wh-” and “how” questions, we simply replace what we want to ask in a statement with a “wh-” word or “how.” In other words, we don't change the word order to make a “wh” question in Mandarin. “Wh-” and “how” words in questions tend to be placed at the beginning of a sentence in English, for example, “How are you?” This is not the case in Chinese. All you need to do is replace what you want to ask with a “wh-” word or “how” word.
Up for a challenge? We have created some exercises for you, and it is time to put your knowledge of how to ask “wh-” and “how” questions into practice!
