谁 · 什么 · 哪儿 — Question words: who, what, where, how many
Pattern: The question word stands where the answer goes
The question word stays where the answer goes: 他是谁？ — 他是我哥哥. 谁 who, 什么 what, 哪儿 where, 几 how many (small numbers), 多少 how much/many, 怎么样 how is it. Don’t add 吗 to such questions.
Examples
| 1 | 他是谁？ tā shì shéi Who is he? |
| 2 | 你叫什么名字？ nǐ jiào shénme míngzi What’s your name? |
| 3 | 你去哪儿？ nǐ qù nǎr Where are you going? |
| 4 | 你家有几口人？ nǐ jiā yǒu jǐ kǒu rén How many people are in your family? |
| 5 | 这个多少钱？ zhège duōshao qián How much is this? |
A common mistake
- ✕ Wrong:
你去哪儿吗？→ ✓ Right: 你去哪儿？ - ✕ Wrong:
谁他是？→ ✓ Right: 他是谁？
Explanations and examples by Zitou. Pinyin added automatically and checked.