痳

Character · Particle · PronounTraditional嗎

interrogative particle; dialect: what

Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma

Meanings

2 senses · 6 examples

particle

(used at the end of a statement to form a yes/no question)

neutral

The most common way to form a yes-no question. The sentence structure remains declarative. Neutral tone.

Nǐ你

hǎo好

ma吗

？

How are you? (lit. Are you well?)

Zhè这

shì是

nǐ你

de的

shū书

ma吗

？

Is this your book?

Show 2 more examples

Nǐ你

xǐ喜

huān欢

chī吃

zhōng中

cān餐

ma吗

？

Do you like Chinese food?

Tā他

huì会

shuō说

hàn汉

yǔ语

ma吗

？

Can he speak Chinese?

pronoun

what (dialectal usage)

dialect

Used in some southern dialects (e.g., Cantonese 乜嘢 -> 咩) and historical transliterations. Not common in standard Mandarin.

Má吗

shì事

？

What's the matter? (dialectal)

Má吗

dōng东

xī西

？

What thing? (dialectal)