What does 吗 mean in Chinese?

吗 (ma) means "question particle" in Chinese.

吗

Q: How do you use 吗 in a sentence?

你是学生吗？ (Nǐ shì xuéshēng ma?) — Are you a student?

Pinyin: ma

question particle

🏮 Chinese HSK 1 💬 Particles & Phrases

Example sentence

你是学生吗？

Nǐ shì xuéshēng ma?

Are you a student?

What 吗 means

吗 (ma) is a Chinese word meaning “question particle”. It belongs to the Particles & Phrases topic and appears at HSK 1, so it is one of the words worth learning early when you study Chinese.

More Particles & Phrases words

HSK 1

了 le completed-action particle 不 bù not; no 没 méi not (have) 呢 ne and…? (question particle) 的 de possessive particle 和 hé and; with 再见 zài jiàn goodbye 谢谢 xiè xiè thank you 不客气 bú kè qì you're welcome 对不起 duì bù qǐ sorry 没关系 méi guān xì it's okay; no problem 喂 wèi hello (on the phone)

Example sentence

What 吗 means

More Particles & Phrases words

Learn 吗 and 1,007 more Chinese words