Asking Questions
Question words are another way to ask questions in Chinese. They are simple to use and don’t change the sentence structure at all.

Rule
You simply replace the element you want to ask about by the right question word and you’ve formed a question!

An overview of the main question words

QUESTION WORDS
谁: who
哪: which
哪儿: where
什么: which/what
几: how many (for numbers below 10)
多少: how many (for numbers 10 and above)
怎么: how
怎么样: how
为什么: why
什么时候: when

If you want to ask where with 哪儿
学校 在哪儿？
Where is the school?
学校 在北京。
The school is in Beijing.

If you want to ask when with 什么时候
你 什么时候 去 美国？
When are you going to America?
我 下个月 去 美国。
I’m going next month.

Asking yes/no questions with 吗 (ma)
To ask a simple yes/no question, simply add 吗 (ma) to the end of an affirmative sentence.

Structure
[Subject] + [Verb] + [Object] + 吗?

Examples
你喜欢他吗？
nǐ xǐhuan tā ma?
Do you like him?

这是你的吗？
zhè shì nǐde ma?
Is this yours?

Asking yes/no questions with 呢 (ne)
The particle 呢 (ne) has more uses than 吗 (ma), but we'll look at the most important one here: forming queries or asking bounce-back questions.

The most common use for 呢 is probably to form simple queries. All you do is put 呢 after the thing you want to query. This is often equivalent to saying “and …?", “what about …?” or “how about …?” in English.

Examples
你呢？
nǐ ne?
And you?

我呢？
wǒ ne?
What about me?

这些东西呢？
zhèxiē dōngxi ne?
What about these things?

Asking different questions or for agreement
By using 是 (shì), 有 (yǒu), 会 (huì), 能 (néng), 可以 (kě yǐ), 要 (yào), you can ask different questions or ask for agreement.

Rule
Simply add the word 不 (bù) or 没 (méi) between the same verbs to from the question. For example, 会不会.

Tips Only 有 (yǒu) can be paired with 没 (méi), 有没有.

Structure
[verb] + 不 or 没 + [verb]

WORDS	MEANING	EXAMPLE
是不是 shì bù shì	Yes, or not Is it	你是不是医生？ nǐ shì bù shì yī shēng ？
有没有 yǒu méi yǒu	Have or not	你有没有手机？ nǐ yǒu méi yǒu shǒu jī ？
会不会 huì bù huì	Know or not Will or not	你会不会游泳？ nǐ huì bù huì yóu yǒng ？ 明天会不会下雨？ míng tiān huì bù huì xià yǔ？
要不要 yào bù yào	Want or not	你要不要吃饭？ nǐ yào bù yào chī fàn ？
能不能 néng bù néng	Can or not	你能不能过来？ nǐ néng bù néng guò lái ？
可不可以 kě bù kě yǐ	Can or not	你可不可以帮我关灯？ nǐ kě bù kě yǐ bāng wǒ guān dēng ？