VocaPy Chinese Grammar

GrammarHSK 1 Practice

怎么问 (5)：“……呢？”

zěnme wèn (5): “……ne?”

Lesson 14: How to ask questions (5): Elliptical questions "……呢？"

Use 呢 for an elliptical question: with no context it asks about a place; with context it asks according to the previous sentence.

Hanyu textbook · Hanyu 1 · Lesson 14

我喝茶，你呢？

Wǒ hē chá, nǐ ne?

I'm having tea, and you?

Explanation

Elliptical questions come in two kinds:

(1) With no context, the question asks about a location: 我的书呢？(= 我的书在哪儿？) 我的自行车呢？(= 我的自行车在哪儿？)

(2) With context, the meaning of the question has to be judged from the context: 这是谁的包？— 我的。那个呢？(= 那个包是谁的？) · 你是哪国人？— 我是英国人。你呢？(= 你是哪国人？)

Structure

1
Nnoun呢？ (không ngữ cảnh) = N在哪儿？
No context: asks about a location.
- 我的书呢？
  Wǒ de shū ne?
  Where is my book?
- 我的自行车呢？
  Wǒ de zìxíngchē ne?
  Where is my bicycle?
2
Câu A，Nnoun呢？ (có ngữ cảnh)
With context: judge from the context — it asks the same thing again about a different subject.
- 我喝茶，你呢？
  Wǒ hē chá, nǐ ne?
  I'm having tea, and you?
- 这是谁的包？我的。那个呢？
  Zhè shì shéi de bāo? Wǒ de. Nàge ne?
  Whose bag is this? Mine. What about that one?
- 你是哪国人？我是英国人。你呢？
  Nǐ shì nǎ guó rén? Wǒ shì Yīngguó rén. Nǐ ne?
  What nationality are you? I'm British. And you?
- 不太忙，您呢？
  Bú tài máng, nín ne?
  Not very busy, and you (sir/madam)?
- 这些是中药，那些呢？
  Zhèxiē shì zhōngyào, nàxiē ne?
  These are traditional Chinese medicines; what about those?

Practice

23 questions in 2 sets. One at a time, checked instantly, with explanations.