HSK 1 · Particles

吗 ma “question particle” in Chinese

Traditional 嗎

Hear it in a sentence

What 吗 means

  1. question particle
  2. (question particle for “yes-no” questions)

How to say 吗

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

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

吗 in a sentence

  1. 你能请她打电话给我吗？

    Nǐ néng qǐng tā dǎ diànhuà gěi wǒ ma?

    Could you ask her to call me?

    Sentence #4208521 from Tatoeba

  2. 你能告诉我这是什么吗？

    Nǐ néng gàosu wǒ zhè shì shénme ma?

    Can you tell me what this is?

    Sentence #333977 from Tatoeba

  3. 有什么你想让我买的吗？

    Yǒu shénme nǐ xiǎng ràng wǒ mǎi de ma?

    Is there anything you want me to buy?

    Sentence #9963145 from Tatoeba

How 吗 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 吗 (ma) with each of its parts in a different colour
吗maquestion particle for “yes-no” questions
  • 口mouth · kǒuMeaning part
  • 马horse · mǎSound part

口 hints at the meaning (mouth); 马 (mǎ) hints at the sound. Compare it with ma.

How to write 吗

吗 6 strokes

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

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

Words related to 吗

More words: Particles & Connectors

的de · possessive particle了le · aspect particle呢ne · question particle不bù · no都dōu · all很hěn · very左右zuǒyòu · about重chóng · again

In the Chinese zodiac

马mǎ · Year of the Horse

吗 takes its sound from 马 (horse).

FAQs

吗 (ma) means “question particle” or “(question particle for “yes-no” questions)”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it ma: ma with a neutral tone. Play the example sentences on this page to hear it in use.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 吗 is written 嗎. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type ma with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 吗 from the suggestions. Typing ma into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
吗 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.