Final Particles in Chinese 嗎/吗 ma, 吧 ba, and 呢

Chinese Final Particles 1

Posted on by tiffany

Grammar Point:
Final Particles in Mandarin Chinese is a nightmare for most Chinese learners. In this article, we are going to learn the most common final particles in Chinese 吗 ma, 吧 ba, and 呢 ne.

Just in case, I provide audio files to help you know how we change intonations without changing any tones. Please make sure you’ve read the entire article before you listen to the file.

Final Particles 嗎/吗 ma

The question that you really don’t know the answer to

你nǐ是shì日本人rìběnrén吗ma?
Are you Japanese?

你nǐ喜欢xǐhuan猫māo吗ma?
Do you like cats?

Final Particles 吧 ba

Checking or confirmation: compare with 吗 ma, this one you already have some guessing in your mind.

你nǐ是shì日本人rìběnrén吧ba?
You are Japanese, right?

你nǐ喜欢xǐhuan猫māo吧ba?
You like cats, don’t you?

Suggestion

你nǐ学xué一点儿yìdiǎnr中文zhōngwén吧ba!
You should learn some Chinese!

我们wǒmen今天jīntiān吃chī牛肉面niúròumiàn吧ba!!
Let’s eat beef noodles today! (suggest)

Compromise (Using as a compromise you need to speak with a slight draw)

好hǎo吧ba…
Fine….( Implying that you have no choice but to say yes.)

那nà就jiù吃chī牛肉面niúròumiàn吧ba…
Fine…then let’s have beef noodles.

Final Particles 呢 ne

Bounce back question (How about..? What about..?)

我wǒ是shì日本人rìběnrén， 你nǐ呢ne？
I am Japanese, how about you?

你nǐ喜欢xǐhuan猫māo， 他tā呢ne？
You like cats, how about him?

你nǐ今天jīntiān很hěn忙máng， 明天míngtiān呢ne？
You are busy today, how about tomorrow?

Where – Noun + 呢 ne

狗gǒu呢ne？
Where’s the dog?

我的wǒde钱qián呢ne？
Where’s my money?

Soft your tones when you ask question (a little bit casual)

The main difference between 呢 ne and 吗 ma is that 吗 ma is used exclusively for yes-no questions, while 呢 is used for questions that contain question words (such as where, what, why, etc.).

你nǐ要yào吃chī什么shénme呢ne？
What do you want to eat?

Toby 为什么wèishénme喜欢xǐhuan猫māo呢ne？
Why does Toby like cats?

Try to convince people

It usually goes with 吧 ba to provide a suggestion.

还hái早zǎo呢ne， 再zài喝hē一yì杯bēi酒jiǔ吧ba！
It’s still quite early, let’s have another cup of drinks.

中文zhōngwén很hěn简单jiǎndān呢ne， 你nǐ就jiù试试shìshì吧ba！
Mandarin Chinese is easy, you should have a try!

Continuation of an action or state (usually go with 在 zài )

我wǒ在zài吃饭chīfàn呢ne！
I am eating now!

妈妈māma在zài生气shēngqì呢ne！
Mom is angry now!

Practice

Do you like it? 🙂