I read on a post that "The ya1 at the end is a filler word that serves to inject friendliness and soften the tone of an otherwise rude sentence." And I know that ma is used to form a Yes/No question. Ba is for suggestions, is that right? Please correct me if I'm wrong. What about Ne? and others I failed to mention? What do they mean exactly and how and when are they used? Thanks for your help.
吗 / 呢 / 吧 / 呀
- Thread starter Giovanni Xie
- Start date
-
- Tags
- particle
Always a good reference: http://xh.5156edu.com/html3/5499.html
吧
助词，用在句末，表示赞同，推测、命令、请求等语气；用在句中表示停顿。
ba: approval, assumption, command, request
吗
助词，表疑问，用在一般直陈句尾：昨天布置的事办了吗？
ma: questioning
呢
助词，用在句末（a.表示疑问，如“你干什么呢？”b.表示确定的语气，如“他没来呢”。c.表示动作正在进行，如“我正吃饭呢”。d.使句子略停顿一下，如“今年呢，比去年收成好”）。
ne: a. questioning
b. affirmation, a filler here
c. going-on action, a filler here
d. pasue, a filler here, too
Yes, your information is all right, but I'd like to emphasize that ma and ya have other functions (not meanings exactly, but can express particular tones or something).
吧
助词，用在句末，表示赞同，推测、命令、请求等语气；用在句中表示停顿。
ba: approval, assumption, command, request
吗
助词，表疑问，用在一般直陈句尾：昨天布置的事办了吗？
ma: questioning
呢
助词，用在句末（a.表示疑问，如“你干什么呢？”b.表示确定的语气，如“他没来呢”。c.表示动作正在进行，如“我正吃饭呢”。d.使句子略停顿一下，如“今年呢，比去年收成好”）。
ne: a. questioning
b. affirmation, a filler here
c. going-on action, a filler here
d. pasue, a filler here, too
Yes, your information is all right, but I'd like to emphasize that ma and ya have other functions (not meanings exactly, but can express particular tones or something).
There are many sentence ending words in Mandarin. To view a list, we can go to MDBG online dictionary here: Entries "final particle"
In case the link is expired, search the dictionary for final particle.
You can then look up on the detailed definitions of each character with the dictionary coconutpalm had given in the previous post.
If you are still unsure of the definitions, please feel free to come back and post questions about any specific doubts you have.
In case the link is expired, search the dictionary for final particle.
You can then look up on the detailed definitions of each character with the dictionary coconutpalm had given in the previous post.
If you are still unsure of the definitions, please feel free to come back and post questions about any specific doubts you have.
That's great. I will check out those links. And I'm still in the pinyin stage, so on this post, if you could include the pinyin, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Ni men tai hao le! Xie xie'a!
Hi, I'm not sure if it is meaningful to distinguish between final particles and interjections.
The examples you mentioned (哦，呀，哇) are interjections. Interjections were discussed in another thread previously.
You are totally right Samantha, I just mentioned them because the thread starter includes 呀 in its original post. Besides I find it interresting as, as a beginner, I also got lost the first time I tried to get the head out of the water. Because Chinese people use them a lot more that we do in English or in French. Interjection are important in Chinese languages and not that easy for Mandarin beginners. I find their importance is underestimated in learning tools.