HSK 1 · Particles

呢 ne “question particle” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 呢 means

  1. question particle
  2. (sentence-final particle) used in questions to link back to prior discourse or context (“what about…?”, “and…?”)
  3. (sentence-final particle) indicating that a state or situation still holds
  4. (discourse particle) used to mark a slight pause or emphasis in speech

How to say 呢

  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own呢neneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

呢 in a sentence

  1. 我准备好了，你们呢？

    Wǒ zhǔnbèi hǎo le, nǐmen ne?

    I’m ready. And you?

    Sentence #9965482 from Tatoeba

  2. 这是你的狗。我的呢？

    Zhè shì nǐ de gǒu. Wǒ de ne?

    Here is your dog. Where is mine?

    Sentence #5845594 from Tatoeba

  3. 妈妈，你在想什么呢？

    Māma, nǐ zài xiǎng shénme ne?

    Mum, what are you thinking about?

    Sentence #10966720 from Tatoeba

How 呢 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 呢 (ne) with each of its parts in a different colour
呢neused in questions to link back
  • 口mouth · kǒuMeaning part
  • 尼Buddhist nun · níSound part

口 hints at the meaning (mouth); 尼 (ní) hints at the sound. Compare it with ne.

How to write 呢

呢 8 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

呢 (ne) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 呢 (ne). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 呢

More words: Particles & Connectors

的de · possessive particle了le · aspect particle吗ma · question particle不bù · no都dōu · all很hěn · very太tài · too重chóng · again

FAQs

呢 (ne) means “question particle” or “(sentence-final particle) used in questions to link back to prior discourse or context (“what about…?”, “and…?”)”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it ne: ne with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 呢 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type ne with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 呢 from the suggestions. Typing ne into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
呢 is an HSK 1 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.