Skip main navigation

How to use 能...吗 in a rhetorical question

Today we will learn how to use 能...吗 in a rhetorical question with its positive form meaning the negative and the negative form meaning the positive

Language points

能…吗 is used in a rhetorical question in Chinese, with its positive form meaning the negative and the negative form meaning the positive

For example:

“能出去玩儿吗?不能。”

“能不累吗?累。”

“能 + positive form + 吗?”means negative

“能 + negative form + 吗?”means positive

Dialogue 4

周太太:你看,我这么胖,怎么办呢?

周明:你每天晚上吃了饭就睡觉,也不出去走走,能不胖吗?

周太太:其实我每天都运动。

周明: 但是你一点儿也没瘦!你做什么运动了?

周太太: 做饭啊。

Let’s see if you can answer the following questions in Chinese:

周明觉得周太太胖吗?

周明觉得周太太为什么胖?

Can you retell the dialogue 你能用自己的话说一遍对话吗?

周太太觉得自己很胖,周明认为太太每天晚上吃了饭就睡觉,也不运动,所以一点儿也没瘦。周太太觉得自己每天的运动是做饭。

Homework

请你写一写“我的周末”。What do you do at weekends?

This article is from the free online

HSK Standard Course Level 3: 3.1

Created by
FutureLearn - Learning For Life

Reach your personal and professional goals

Unlock access to hundreds of expert online courses and degrees from top universities and educators to gain accredited qualifications and professional CV-building certificates.

Join over 18 million learners to launch, switch or build upon your career, all at your own pace, across a wide range of topic areas.

Start Learning now