吗

How to write 吗, stroke by stroke

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What 吗 means

ma

(question particle for "yes-no" questions)

má

(coll.) what?

Pictophonetic: semantic 口 (mouth), phonetic 马

Made of 口 + 马

Words with 吗

• 不是吗bù shì maisn't that so?
• 吗哪mǎ nǎmanna (Israelite food)
• 约吗yuē ma(neologism c. 2014) (slang) Are you interested? (originally an invitation for casual sex, later generalized as a playful or humorous invitation for any activity)
• 干吗gàn mávariant of 干嘛
• 吗喽ma lou(slang) monkey (often used humorously or self-deprecatingly by overworked laborers)
• 不香吗bù xiāng ma(slang) would be better (abbr. for 这钱买排骨它不香吗 for that money, a pork cutlet would be more appetizing, would it not?)
• 吗啡mǎ fēimorphine (loanword)
• 吗啉mǎ línmorpholine (chemistry) (loanword)

吗 in a sentence

• 爸爸，你在干吗？

  bà ba ， nǐ zài gàn má ？

  What are you doing, Dad?

• 你明天有事吗？

  nǐ míng tiān yǒu shì ma ？

  Are you engaged for tomorrow?

• 您准备好了吗？

  nín zhǔn bèi hǎo le ma ？

  Are you ready?

• 那是一张近照吗？

  nà shì yì zhāng jìn zhào ma ？

  Is it a recent picture?

• 你说英语别人能懂吗？

  nǐ shuō yīng yǔ bié rén néng dǒng ma ？

  Can you make yourself understood in English?

Characters that sound like 吗

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