<ol>
<li><p>吗 came from 无（無）meaning &quot;not&quot; and has always been used as a yes-no question particle throughout the history of the Chinese language (Sun, 1999). Its pronunciation in Old Chinese was reconstructed as <em>ma</em>. 无（無） was later gradually replaced by 么（麽）in the Yuan Dynasty and eventually 吗（嗎） during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. <br />
Examples: <br />
<strong>白居易《問劉十九》</strong><br />
能飲一杯無？<br />
= Shall we have a drink (or not)?<br />
<strong>《新編五代史平話》</strong><br />
這事莫也是咱教汝麼？<br />
= Was it I who asked you to do this (or not)?<br />
<strong>席浪仙《石點頭》</strong><br />
可是你藏在裡邊的嗎？<br />
= Was it you who hide it inside (or not)?</p>
</li>
<li><p>吧 came from 罢（罷）meaning &quot;over&quot;. 罢 evolved into a sentence-final particle from a result complement in the Yuan Dynasty and then 吧 during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.<br />
Examples: <br />
<strong>馮夢龍《喻世明言》</strong><br />
你們看我面放手罷。<br />
= Guys, let go for my sake(. Over).</p>
</li>
<li><p>呢 came from 而（爾）(Ōta, 1958) meaning &quot;the look of&quot; or ……的樣子. 爾 could be found in special questions (wh-questions in English) as early as the pre-Qin period. 爾 began to diverge in its functions no later than the Tang Dynasty and eventually split into various different particles including 聻, which was used exclusively in special questions during the Song Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, 聻 evolved into 呢, and some functions of 那 and 哩 were assimilated into 呢, which in turn improved the versatility of 呢 (Sun, 1999).<br />
Examples: <br />
<strong>《公羊傳》</strong><br />
然則何言爾？<br />
= Why is it said like this then?</p>
</li>
<li><p>了 le5 le evolved into a sentence-final particle from a phase complement. A hypothesis (Liu, 1985) is that 了le5 is a fusion of &quot;了liao3也&quot;.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>References:<br />
孙锡倍(1999)《近代汉语语气词：汉语语气词的历史考察》<br />
太田辰夫(1958)《中国語歴史文法》<br />
刘勋宁(1985)《现代汉语句尾“了”的来源》</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-05T22:39:17.307Z
Thanks for the info! Could you elaborate more please on 2 and 4? 2: "Over" in what sense? 4: What is a phase complement, and what would the function of that phase complement have been?
Buddy L
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-12-30T07:44:06.973Z
2022-12-30T07:44:06.973Z
user
<p>I'm curious about the etymology of 吗，吧， 呢，and 了. Does anyone have theories or sources on the subject?</p>

<etymology><particles>
What is the etymology of the different sentence final particles?
# What is the etymology of the different sentence final particles?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-12-29)

I'm curious about the etymology of 吗，吧， 呢，and 了. Does anyone have theories or sources on the subject?

**Tags:** etymology, particles


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-12-30. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

1. 吗 came from 无（無）meaning "not" and has always been used as a yes-no question particle throughout the history of the Chinese language (Sun, 1999). Its pronunciation in Old Chinese was reconstructed as *ma*. 无（無） was later gradually replaced by 么（麽）in the Yuan Dynasty and eventually 吗（嗎） during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.   
   Examples:   
   **白居易《問劉十九》**  
   能飲一杯無？  
   = Shall we have a drink (or not)?  
   **《新編五代史平話》**  
   這事莫也是咱教汝麼？  
   = Was it I who asked you to do this (or not)?  
   **席浪仙《石點頭》**  
   可是你藏在裡邊的嗎？  
   = Was it you who hide it inside (or not)?
2. 吧 came from 罢（罷）meaning "over". 罢 evolved into a sentence-final particle from a result complement in the Yuan Dynasty and then 吧 during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.  
   Examples:   
   **馮夢龍《喻世明言》**  
   你們看我面放手罷。  
   = Guys, let go for my sake(. Over).
3. 呢 came from 而（爾）(Ōta, 1958) meaning "the look of" or ……的樣子. 爾 could be found in special questions (wh-questions in English) as early as the pre-Qin period. 爾 began to diverge in its functions no later than the Tang Dynasty and eventually split into various different particles including 聻, which was used exclusively in special questions during the Song Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, 聻 evolved into 呢, and some functions of 那 and 哩 were assimilated into 呢, which in turn improved the versatility of 呢 (Sun, 1999).  
   Examples:   
   **《公羊傳》**  
   然則何言爾？  
   = Why is it said like this then?
4. 了 le5 le evolved into a sentence-final particle from a phase complement. A hypothesis (Liu, 1985) is that 了le5 is a fusion of "了liao3也".

References:  
孙锡倍(1999)《近代汉语语气词：汉语语气词的历史考察》  
太田辰夫(1958)《中国語歴史文法》  
刘勋宁(1985)《现代汉语句尾“了”的来源》

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for the info! Could you elaborate more please on 2 and 4? 2: "Over" in what sense? 4: What is a phase complement, and what would the function of that phase complement have been?  

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