Learn Chinese for Free - Lesson 21

Today's Chinese characters:

呢尼

The character 呢character: 呢
pinyin: ne
details is made up of two parts: 口character: 口
pinyin: kǒu
details (mouth) and 尼character: 尼
pinyin: ní
details (Buddhist nun). It's used to form elliptical questions. Can you imagine a Buddhist nun and her elliptical mouth?

Character Knowledge Meter
16.4% Today with this lesson your knowledge of Chinese characters will reach 16.4% of all the Chinese language usage!

Characters' Essentials

Character

呢

Pronunciation

Meaning

Used at the end of an interrogative sentence to ask a question in connection with the preceding topic

Character

尼

Pronunciation

ní

Meaning

Used to transliterate foreign language names, such as Disney, Sony, Nikon, Manila, Trinidad, and a lot of famous persons' names. So, what you only need now is to remember its pronunciation.

Description and Examples

Dialogue 6

你好吗？

很好。你呢？

我也很好。

Sentence Structure 14
The Elliptical Question With “呢”

Elliptical questions may be formed by adding the modal particle 呢character: 呢
pinyin: ne
details to a noun, pronoun or nominal construction. The meaning of this kind of question is determined by the context.

Example

我character: 我
pinyin: wǒ
details是character: 是
pinyin: shì
details医生word: 医生
pinyin: yīshēng
details。你character: 你
pinyin: nǐ
details呢character: 呢
pinyin: ne
details？

meaning: "What about you? What's your profession?"

If asked without any context, it concerns the whereabouts of somebody or something. For example, if you meet Mary and just ask her "Lucy呢character: 呢
pinyin: ne
details？", it would mean "Where is Lucy?"

Exercise

Change into elliptical questions:

我character: 我
pinyin: wǒ
details不character: 不
pinyin: bù
details忙character: 忙
pinyin: máng
details。你character: 你
pinyin: nǐ
details忙character: 忙
pinyin: máng
details吗character: 吗
pinyin: ma
details？

我character: 我
pinyin: wǒ
details认识word: 认识
pinyin: rènshi
details她character: 她
pinyin: tā
details。你character: 你
pinyin: nǐ
details认识word: 认识
pinyin: rènshi
details她character: 她
pinyin: tā
details吗character: 吗
pinyin: ma
details？

我character: 我
pinyin: wǒ
details不character: 不
pinyin: bú
details是character: 是
pinyin: shì
details医生word: 医生
pinyin: yīshēng
details。你character: 你
pinyin: nǐ
details是character: 是
pinyin: shì
details医生word: 医生
pinyin: yīshēng
details吗character: 吗
pinyin: ma
details？

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Characters' Details

Chinese Character 45 of 1000

appearance score: # 383
frequency: 0.0579755%

Character

呢

Animation

Strokes

Pronunciation

Meaning

-	(Used at the end of an interrogative sentence to indicate an elliptical question)
-	(Used at the end of a declarative sentence to indicate that the statement is a fact)
-	(Used at the end of a statement to indicate that the action or the condition is in progress)
-	(Used in the middle of a sentence to indicate a pause)

Pronunciation

ní

Meaning

Heavy woolen cloth

This character has a different traditional version.

Traditional