<p>There are many sentence-ending particles in Chinese. Among them 呢 and 吗 are the most commonly used ones.</p>

<p>The particles 呢 (ne) and 吗 (ma) are very commonly used in both written and spoken Chinese. Check out the similarities and differences between the particle words呢 (ne) and 吗 (ma).</p>

<p>Similarities</p>

<ul>
<li>Both 吗 and 呢 are used at the end of a sentence.</li>
<li>Both 吗 and 呢can be used to form questions. </li>
<li>Both of them are pronounced in neutral tone.</li>
</ul>

<p>Differences</p>

<ul>
<li><p>吗 is used to turn statements into yes-no questions.</p>

<p>For example: </p>

<pre><code>zhè shì tú shū ɡuǎn
这是图书馆。
This is a library.

zhè shì tú shū ɡuǎn mɑ？
这是图书馆吗？
Is this a library?
</code></pre></li>
<li><p>呢 is mostly used to turn statements into queries.</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<pre><code>fànɡjià le, nǐ wèishénme bù chqu wán’ér ne？
放假 了，你 为什么 不 出去 玩儿 呢？
It’s holiday time. Why not go out for fun?

wǒ jiào lǐqiánɡ, nǐne？
我 叫 李强，你呢？
My name is Li Qiang. What about you?
</code></pre></li>
</ul>

<p>If you want to know the details of the usage of 吗， you can read this quora post: <a href="http://chinesewords.quora.com/Usage-of-Chinese-particle-%E5%90%97-ma" rel="nofollow">http://chinesewords.quora.com/Usage-of-Chinese-particle-%E5%90%97-ma</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-05T11:16:35.237Z
2015-05-05T20:17:24.040Z
2015-05-05T20:17:24.040Z
Jenny
<p>Two usage of 呢<br/>
1.exclamatory sentence<br/>
example:<br/>
他还在睡呢!(He is still sleeping!)<br/>
我还没完成呢!(I haven't finish this yet!)<br/>
2.interrogative sentence<br/>
in this case, use of 呢 usually soften the question a bit<br/>
example:<br/>
a.你在干什么？<br/>
b.你在干什么呢？<br/>
a and b both means "what are you doing?", but b is more slightly<br/>
edit:<br/>
one more usage is to mark the sentence(usually very short, or part of a sentence) as a question(sorry I can't find a proper way to describe this more accurate)<br/>
example:<br/>
1.车呢？(where is the car?)<br/>
2.他人呢？(where is him?)<br/>
3.我在学中文，你呢？(I'm learning Chinese, what about you?)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-05T17:05:08.163Z
2015-05-05T17:12:05.053Z
2015-05-05T17:12:05.053Z
Doubble22
<p>Basically, this word has no meaning. Chinese usually use this at the very end of a interrogative sentence. It won't affect the meaning of the sentence if you ignore this word. </p>

<pre><code>e.g. 

'我该不该去那里?' is equal to '我该不该去那里呢?'
(Should I go there or not?)
</code></pre>

<p>Others like:</p>

<p>啊
呀
么</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-09T07:20:21.800Z
There's more than that for 呢, what about "我姓王。你呢？"?
Ming
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-09T07:59:55.503Z
In such case, after a statement, the following '你呢' means 'What/How about you?'
Soony
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-09T08:04:17.353Z
What I meant by that was your answer is incomplete, OP wants to know how 呢 works, not just in one way, but in all ways. You could also give a bit of an explanation as to the other particles' usages.
Ming
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-09T05:30:31.940Z
2014-05-09T06:16:50.100Z
2014-05-09T06:16:50.100Z
Soony
<p>My teacher said that a particle word in Chinese is a function word, but don't quite understand what is means. How does the particle word such as "呢" work?</p>

<p>Also, are there any other Chinese particle words out there? Thanks in advance!</p>

<meaning><usage><particles>
How does the particle word "呢" work?
# How does the particle word "呢" work?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-05-09)

My teacher said that a particle word in Chinese is a function word, but don't quite understand what is means. How does the particle word such as "呢" work?

Also, are there any other Chinese particle words out there? Thanks in advance!

**Tags:** meaning, usage, particles


---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-05-05. Score: 1

There are many sentence-ending particles in Chinese. Among them 呢 and 吗 are the most commonly used ones.

The particles 呢 (ne) and 吗 (ma) are very commonly used in both written and spoken Chinese. Check out the similarities and differences between the particle words呢 (ne) and 吗 (ma).

Similarities

* Both 吗 and 呢 are used at the end of a sentence.
* Both 吗 and 呢can be used to form questions.
* Both of them are pronounced in neutral tone.

Differences

* 吗 is used to turn statements into yes-no questions.

  For example:

  ```
  zhè shì tú shū ɡuǎn
  这是图书馆。
  This is a library.

  zhè shì tú shū ɡuǎn mɑ？
  这是图书馆吗？
  Is this a library?

  ```
* 呢 is mostly used to turn statements into queries.

  For example:

  ```
  fànɡjià le, nǐ wèishénme bù chqu wán’ér ne？
  放假 了，你 为什么 不 出去 玩儿 呢？
  It’s holiday time. Why not go out for fun?

  wǒ jiào lǐqiánɡ, nǐne？
  我 叫 李强，你呢？
  My name is Li Qiang. What about you?

  ```

If you want to know the details of the usage of 吗， you can read this quora post: <http://chinesewords.quora.com/Usage-of-Chinese-particle-%E5%90%97-ma>


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2015-05-05. Score: 0

Two usage of 呢  
1.exclamatory sentence  
example:  
他还在睡呢!(He is still sleeping!)  
我还没完成呢!(I haven't finish this yet!)  
2.interrogative sentence  
in this case, use of 呢 usually soften the question a bit  
example:  
a.你在干什么？  
b.你在干什么呢？  
a and b both means "what are you doing?", but b is more slightly  
edit:  
one more usage is to mark the sentence(usually very short, or part of a sentence) as a question(sorry I can't find a proper way to describe this more accurate)  
example:  
1.车呢？(where is the car?)  
2.他人呢？(where is him?)  
3.我在学中文，你呢？(I'm learning Chinese, what about you?)


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2014-05-09. Score: 0

Basically, this word has no meaning. Chinese usually use this at the very end of a interrogative sentence. It won't affect the meaning of the sentence if you ignore this word.

```
e.g. 

'我该不该去那里?' is equal to '我该不该去那里呢?'
(Should I go there or not?)

```

Others like:

啊
呀
么

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: There's more than that for 呢, what about "我姓王。你呢？"?  
> **username_3**: In such case, after a statement, the following '你呢' means 'What/How about you?'  
> **username_4**: What I meant by that was your answer is incomplete, OP wants to know how 呢 works, not just in one way, but in all ways. You could also give a bit of an explanation as to the other particles' usages.  

---

