Ask a question with 'ma'

'Ma' (with a neutral tone) is a question word in Chinese. It doesn't have particular meaning by itself. However, when  you place 'ma' after a statement, you change the statement into a simple question that can be answered with 'Yes' or 'No'.

For example, we learnt the sentence in the last blog: 'Nǐ shì David。' = You are David.

By adding 'ma' to the end of this sentence, we have 'Nǐ shì David ma？' which means 'Are you David?'

The answer can be: 'Shì, wǒ shì David。' = Yes, I am David.

Note: the first 'Shì' in the answer means 'yes' while the second 'Shì' in the answer is the equivalent of 'am'.

Or the answer can be: 'Bù, wǒ bú shì David。' = No, I am not David.

Note: 'bù' means 'no' or 'not' in Chinese.