▎A-not-A Questions

 

Function The A-not-A form of making a question is the most neutral way to ask a question in Chinese and closest to yes/no questions in English.

1 王先生要不要喝咖啡？

Wáng xiānshēng yào bú yào hē kāfēi?

Does Mr. Wang want to have some coffee?

2 這是不是烏龍茶？

Zhè shì bú shì Wūlóng chá?

Is this Oolong tea?

3 臺灣人喜歡不喜歡喝茶？

Táiwān rén xǐhuān bù xǐhuān hē chá?

Do Taiwanese people like to drink tea?

 

Structures The ‘A’ in the structure refers to the first verbal element.

1 他喝咖啡。／他喝不喝咖啡？

Tā hē kāfēi.／Tā hē bù hē kāfēi?

He’ll have coffee.／Does he want to drink coffee?

2 你是日本人。／你是不是日本人？

Nǐ shì Rìběn rén.／Nǐ shì bú shì Rìběn rén?

You are Japanese.／Are you Japanese?

3 他來臺灣。／他來不來臺灣？

Tā lái Táiwān.／Tā lái bù lái Táiwān?

He came to Taiwan.／Is he coming to Taiwan?

 

Usage When the verbal element (A) in an A-not-A question is disyllabic (XY), the second syllable (Y) can be dropped in the first ‘A’ of the pattern, so ‘XY-not-XY’ is the same as ‘X-not-XY’. For example, 你喜歡不喜歡我？Nǐ xǐhuān bù xǐhuān wǒ? is the same as 你喜不喜歡我？Nǐ xǐ bù xǐhuān wǒ? (Do you like me?)