<p>Firstly, you are correct... both can be used at the end of a sentence, but they do not have the same meanings.</p>

<p>吗 ma = question particle </p>

<p>吧 ba = suggestive particle</p>

<p>Here's some examples:</p>

<pre><code>你还好吗？(Nǐ hái hǎo ma) Are you okay? 

你还好吧。(Nǐ hái hǎo ba) Come on, you're okay, right? (suggesting that they're okay)
</code></pre>

<p>Or, In many cases 吧 is in response to 吗:</p>

<pre><code>Person A: 好吗？Okay?
Person B: 好吧。 Fine...
</code></pre>

<p>That girl said you should use <code>ba</code> because she thought you should be more suggestive </p>

<p>我们一起吃饭吧！（Wǒmen yīqǐ chīfàn ba）sounds more assertive than 你想跟我一起吃饭吗？（Nǐ xiǎng gēn wǒ yīqǐ chīfàn ma?）</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-09T21:42:57.637Z
On a side note, `ba - 吧` and `ma - 嘛` are similar, except that `嘛` makes the user sound like they're upset!
Question Marks
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-11T03:14:18.413Z
My understanding is 吧 can also be used when you expect the answer to be affirmative. For example, when confirming something 你6点下班吧？ Similar to the tag question "You finish work at 6, right?"
tao
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-09T21:00:00.997Z
2013-07-09T21:11:48.753Z
2013-07-09T21:11:48.753Z
user3871
<p>I heard that ba (吧) can be used at the end of a sentence just like ma (吗). Per my understanding, it's not interchangeable with ma (吗) but a more playful way of asking the same question. (Some girl said I should use 吧 when asking her if she wants to go to lunch, idk what that means.)</p>

<p>So, when do you use each of these words? What are the connotations of each?</p>

<mandarin><word-choice>
吗 and 吧 at the end of a question
# 吗 and 吧 at the end of a question

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-07-09)

I heard that ba (吧) can be used at the end of a sentence just like ma (吗). Per my understanding, it's not interchangeable with ma (吗) but a more playful way of asking the same question. (Some girl said I should use 吧 when asking her if she wants to go to lunch, idk what that means.)

So, when do you use each of these words? What are the connotations of each?

**Tags:** mandarin, word-choice


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2013-07-09. Score: 7 | Accepted answer

Firstly, you are correct... both can be used at the end of a sentence, but they do not have the same meanings.
吗 ma = question particle 
吧 ba = suggestive particle
Here's some examples:
你还好吗？(Nǐ hái hǎo ma) Are you okay? 

你还好吧。(Nǐ hái hǎo ba) Come on, you're okay, right? (suggesting that they're okay)

Or, In many cases 吧 is in response to 吗:
Person A: 好吗？Okay?
Person B: 好吧。 Fine...

That girl said you should use ba because she thought you should be more suggestive 
我们一起吃饭吧！（Wǒmen yīqǐ chīfàn ba）sounds more assertive than 你想跟我一起吃饭吗？（Nǐ xiǎng gēn wǒ yīqǐ chīfàn ma?）

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: On a side note, `ba - 吧` and `ma - 嘛` are similar, except that `嘛` makes the user sound like they're upset!  
> **username_3**: My understanding is 吧 can also be used when you expect the answer to be affirmative. For example, when confirming something 你6点下班吧？ Similar to the tag question "You finish work at 6, right?"  

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