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Introducing question words

In this video, Dr Li will explain more about questions words in Chinese.
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Wáng Xiǎobǎo nǐ qù nǎr Wǒ qù chāoshì. Chāoshì zài nǎr Chāoshì zài xuéxiào pángbiān. ō zài nàbiānxièxiè. Bú kè qìzàijiàn. Bye-bye.
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You must notice that Xi XI used nǎr to ask about the place. This is what we are going to learn, how to make questions with interrogative pronouns. First, we use nǎr to ask about the locations Nǐ qù nǎr and Chāoshì zài nǎr . The structure is subject plus verb plus nǎr. Answering these questions is also easy. Just replace nǎr with the name of a location.
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OK. So if you ask me Nǐ zài nǎr I can simply say Wǒ zài xuéxiào . Right. Nǐ qù nǎr Wǒ qù chāoshì. Good. We use shuí to ask about people. For example, Tā shì shuí Tā shì Chéng lóng.
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Shuí xuéxí hànyǔ Wáng Xiǎobǎo xuéxí hànyǔ. Similarly, when answering, we replace shuí with the person’s name. Oh. It’s easy. I can say shuí xuéxí yīngyǔ to ask a question about a person. Right. I can answer Xīxī xuéxí yīngyǔ . Now let’s learn another question word, shénme to ask about objects. For example, Nǐ hē shénme Wǒ hē kāfēi.
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Xīxī xuéxí shénme Xīxī xuéxí yīngyǔ. When answering, we replace shénme with an object’s name.
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In Chinese, we simply replace the subject or object of a sentence with a question word. We use nǎr to ask about places, shuí to ask about people, shénme to ask about objects.
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Remember, the word order does not change. Please match the following questions with their answers. Nǐ shì shuí? Wǒ shì Xiǎo Wáng.
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Nǐ qù nǎr? Wǒ qù túshūguǎn.
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Xiǎo Míng zài zuò shénme?
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Tā zài kàn diànyǐng.
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Now listen to our dialogue to end the lesson. Nǐ hǎo, qǐng wèn Wáng Xiǎobǎo zài ma?
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Wáng Xiǎobǎo bú zài, qǐng wèn nǐ shì shuí? Wǒ shì Xīxī.Qǐng wèn tā qù nǎr le? Tā qù túshūguǎn le. Ōwǒ zhīdào le. Xièxiè nǐ, zàijiàn. Bú kè qì, zài jiàn.

In this video we learn how to use different question words to ask questions such as “who,where and what”.

  • 哪儿( nǎr ) where

We use the word “哪儿”to ask about locations,. For example:

你去哪儿? Nǐ qù nǎr? Where are you going?

超市在哪儿? Chāoshì zài nǎr?Where is the supermarket?

The structure is: subject + verb +“哪儿”

Answering these questions is easy,just replace “哪儿” with the name of a location.

你去哪儿? The answer is “我去学校。” I am going to school.

  • 谁(shéi)who

We use the word “谁” to ask about people. For example:

他是谁? Tā shì shéi?Who is he?

谁学习汉语? Shéi xuéxí hànyǔ?Who studies Chinese?

When answering,we replace“谁” with a person’s name.

他是成龙。Tā shì Chéng lóng. He is Jackie Chan.

王小宝学习汉语。Wáng Xiǎobǎo xuéxí hànyǔ.

Wang Xiaobao studies Chinese

  • 什么(shénme)what

We use “什么” to ask questions about objects. For example:

你喝什么? Nǐ hē shénme?What would you like to drink?

西西学习什么? Xīxī xuéxí shénme?What does Xixi study?

When answering, we replace“什么” with an object’s name.

我喝咖啡。Wǒ hē kāfēi. I drink coffee.

西西学习英语。Xīxī xuéxí yīngyǔ. Xixi studies English.

Some new words from the video:

做什么 zuò shénme do what

看电影 kàn diànyǐng see a film

The following is the situational dialogue from the Video:

西西:你好,请问王小宝在吗?

雪丽:王小宝不在,请问你是谁?

西西:我是西西。请问他去哪儿了?

雪丽:他去图书馆了。

西西:哦,我知道了。谢谢你,再见。

雪丽:不客气,再见。

Xī xī:Hello, is Wang Xiaobao in?

Xuělì:Wang Xiaobao is not in. Who are you?

Xīxī: I am Xixi. Where did he go?

Xuělì:He went to the library.

Xī xī:Oh, I know. Thank you, good bye.

Xuělì:You are welcome, goodbye.

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