Conversational Mandarin Chinese Quiz: Yes No Question Patterns
10 questions · exam conditions
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Yes No Question PatternsQuestion 1 of 10

A Mandarin teacher gives students the prompt: 'Ask whether the weather is good using A-not-A.' One student writes '天气好不好？' and another writes '天气好不好吗？' The teacher marks only the first student correct. Which explanation best justifies the teacher's decision?

The teacher is correct because 好 is an adjective, and A-not-A questions with adjectives require dropping the copula 是, which the second student failed to do by adding 吗 instead of removing 是.
The teacher is correct because 吗 can only be appended to questions that contain the copula 是, and since 天气好不好？ uses an adjective predicate instead of 是, adding 吗 is prohibited by this rule.
The teacher is incorrect; both sentences are grammatically valid because 吗 can be optionally added to any A-not-A question to add emphasis or express surprise, making both student responses acceptable.
The teacher is correct because appending 吗 to an A-not-A question creates a grammatically unacceptable double question marking; A-not-A and 吗 are mutually exclusive question strategies in Mandarin.
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Conversational Mandarin Chinese Quiz

Conversational Mandarin Chinese Quiz: Yes No Question Patterns

Practice Yes No Question Patterns in Conversational Mandarin Chinese with focused quiz questions that help you check what you know, review explanations, and build confidence with test-style prompts.

What this quiz covers

This quiz focuses on Yes No Question Patterns, giving you a quick way to practice the rules, question types, and explanations that matter most for Conversational Mandarin Chinese.

How to use this quiz

Try each quiz question before looking at the correct answer. Use the explanations to review missed ideas, then come back to similar questions until the pattern feels familiar.

All questions

Question 1

A Mandarin teacher gives students the prompt: 'Ask whether the weather is good using A-not-A.' One student writes '天气好不好？' and another writes '天气好不好吗？' The teacher marks only the first student correct. Which explanation best justifies the teacher's decision?

  1. The teacher is correct because 好 is an adjective, and A-not-A questions with adjectives require dropping the copula 是, which the second student failed to do by adding 吗 instead of removing 是.
  2. The teacher is correct because 吗 can only be appended to questions that contain the copula 是, and since 天气好不好？ uses an adjective predicate instead of 是, adding 吗 is prohibited by this rule.
  3. The teacher is incorrect; both sentences are grammatically valid because 吗 can be optionally added to any A-not-A question to add emphasis or express surprise, making both student responses acceptable.
  4. The teacher is correct because appending 吗 to an A-not-A question creates a grammatically unacceptable double question marking; A-not-A and 吗 are mutually exclusive question strategies in Mandarin. (correct answer)
Explanation: When studying Mandarin question formation, one of the most important rules to internalize is that question markers are mutually exclusive — you cannot stack two question-forming strategies in the same sentence. Mandarin has two primary ways to form yes/no questions: the 吗 particle (appended to a statement) and the A-not-A structure (repeating the predicate in positive-negative form, e.g., 好不好). Both strategies independently signal "this is a question." Because each one already fully marks the sentence as a question, combining them creates redundant, competing question signals — which is grammatically unacceptable in Mandarin. This is why 天气好不好？ is correct, while 天气好不好吗？ is not. The teacher is right to mark only the first student correct, confirming D as the best explanation. A is wrong because it invents a rule about dropping the copula 是. The issue here has nothing to do with 是 — adjective predicates in Mandarin don't require 是 in the first place, and that's irrelevant to why 吗 is problematic. B is wrong because it fabricates a rule that 吗 can only follow 是. In reality, 吗 can follow many predicate types — the problem isn't what precedes 吗, but that an A-not-A structure already does the questioning work. C is wrong because it treats 吗 as optionally addable to any question. This is a tempting trap, but adding 吗 to an A-not-A question isn't an emphasis strategy — it's a grammatical error. Study tip: Remember this clean rule — A-not-A and 吗 never appear together. If you see the repeated structure (V不V / A不A), leave 吗 out entirely.

Question 2

Two students are discussing how to ask their teacher if she is busy. Student A says: '我应该问老师：她忙不忙？' Student B says: '不对，你应该说：老师忙吗？' Student C overhears and says: '你们两个都说错了。'

Based on the exchange above, which statement best describes the grammatical correctness of Student A's and Student B's questions?

  1. Student A is correct because A-not-A questions are always more formal and therefore more appropriate when addressing a teacher, while Student B's 吗 question is too casual for this context.
  2. Both Student A and Student B have produced grammatically valid yes/no questions, meaning Student C's claim that both are wrong is itself incorrect. (correct answer)
  3. Student B is correct and Student A is wrong because A-not-A questions cannot be used with one-syllable adjectives like 忙, so the pattern 忙不忙 is ungrammatical.
  4. Student A is correct and Student B is wrong because once you choose the A-not-A pattern for a question, adding 吗 at the end is required to make the sentence grammatically complete.
Explanation: When studying Mandarin yes/no questions, you need to know that there are two grammatically valid structures for asking about a single adjective or verb: the 吗 question (statement + 吗?) and the A-not-A question (A + 不 + A). Both are standard, correct grammar — they're simply two different tools for the same job. That's exactly what makes this passage a trap. Student A says 她忙不忙？(A-not-A pattern) and Student B says 老师忙吗？(吗 pattern). Both sentences are perfectly grammatical yes/no questions in Mandarin. Student C's claim that both are wrong is simply false, which makes B the correct answer — neither student made a grammatical error. Walking through the wrong answers: A is incorrect because A-not-A questions are not inherently more formal than 吗 questions; formality in this context comes from word choice and tone, not question structure. C contains a false rule — A-not-A absolutely can be used with monosyllabic adjectives like 忙. 忙不忙 is a completely standard and natural formation. D gets the grammar backwards: you must choose one structure or the other. Adding 吗 to an A-not-A question (e.g., 忙不忙吗？) is actually the ungrammatical combination — the two patterns are mutually exclusive. A good study tip: memorize that 吗 and A-not-A are interchangeable but incompatible — either one works alone, but you can never combine them. Questions on this exam often test whether you mistakenly rank one as superior or misremember which syllable types each pattern allows.

Question 3

Read the following short dialogue: A: 你会说中文吗？ B: 会。 A: 那你会不会说日文？ B: 不会。

In the dialogue above, Speaker A uses two different yes/no question patterns. Which statement best explains why both patterns are used correctly and what functional difference, if any, exists between them in this context?

  1. Both patterns are used correctly. The shift from 吗 to A-not-A in A's second question signals a change in grammatical subject, which is required by Mandarin syntax whenever the topic of a question changes.
  2. Both patterns are used correctly. In Mandarin, 吗 questions and A-not-A questions are interchangeable for polar questions, and the switch here simply reflects natural stylistic variation with no obligatory functional distinction in this context. (correct answer)
  3. Only the first question (吗) is used correctly. The second question should have maintained the 吗 pattern for consistency; switching patterns mid-dialogue is a grammatical error in standard Mandarin.
  4. Both patterns are used correctly, but A-not-A questions are exclusively reserved for follow-up questions in a dialogue and cannot be used to open a conversation, which is why 吗 must appear first.
Explanation: When you see a question about Mandarin yes/no question patterns, ask yourself: what are the actual grammatical rules governing 吗 questions and A-not-A questions, and do those rules force a speaker to choose one over the other? In Mandarin, both 吗 questions (你会说中文吗？) and A-not-A questions (你会不会说日文？) are grammatically correct ways to form polar questions — questions expecting a yes or no answer. Neither pattern is restricted to a specific position in a dialogue, a specific grammatical subject, or a specific discourse function. A native speaker can freely alternate between them based on rhythm, emphasis, or simple stylistic preference. That's exactly what Speaker A does here, and both questions are perfectly natural. This makes B the correct answer. Answer A is wrong because it invents a rule that doesn't exist. Mandarin does not require a change in question pattern when the topic shifts — the two questions actually share the same subject (你), making this claim doubly false. Answer C is wrong because it treats stylistic variation as a grammatical error. Switching question patterns mid-dialogue is not a violation of any rule in standard Mandarin; it's simply a normal feature of natural speech. Answer D is wrong because it fabricates an exclusive restriction on A-not-A questions. While A-not-A questions can appear as follow-ups, they are equally valid as conversation openers. There is no such sequencing requirement in Mandarin grammar. A good study tip: watch out for answer choices that invent absolute rules (words like "exclusively" or "must") about Mandarin grammar — Mandarin question patterns are often more flexible than learners expect.

Question 4

A student is asked to respond to the yes/no question '你饿不饿？' The student answers: '不饿不饿。'

Which of the following best evaluates the student's response '不饿不饿' as an answer to the A-not-A question '你饿不饿？'

  1. The response is grammatically correct and natural; repeating the negative adjective twice is a recognized Mandarin pattern for giving an emphatic negative answer, equivalent to 'not hungry at all.'
  2. The response is non-standard; to answer an A-not-A question negatively, Mandarin convention requires the speaker to first echo the affirmative element before stating the negative, so the correct form would be '饿，不饿' rather than '不饿不饿.'
  3. The response is unnatural and non-standard; a negative answer to '你饿不饿？' would typically be expressed simply as '不饿' or '不,' as repeating '不饿' twice does not follow Mandarin response conventions. (correct answer)
  4. The response is grammatically correct because A-not-A questions require the respondent to echo both the affirmative and negative parts of the question in their answer, making '不饿不饿' the only fully grammatical negative response.
Explanation: When answering yes/no questions in Mandarin, it helps to understand how A-not-A questions work. These questions (like 你饿不饿？) present both the affirmative and negative forms of a predicate, inviting a simple, direct response. Your job is to know what a natural, conventional reply looks like. In standard Mandarin, a negative answer to 你饿不饿？ is simply 不饿 or just 不. The question already contains the full structure — you don't need to mirror or repeat elements to signal clarity. Saying 不饿不饿 (repeating the negative twice) doesn't follow any recognized Mandarin response pattern and would sound redundant or awkward to a native speaker. That makes C the correct answer: the response is unnatural and non-standard, and the appropriate negative reply is just 不饿 or 不. A is wrong because repeating a negative adjective twice (不饿不饿) is not a recognized emphatic negative pattern in Mandarin. Don't confuse this with legitimate reduplication patterns, which apply differently and to different word classes. B is wrong because it invents a rule — there is no convention requiring speakers to echo the affirmative element before the negative (i.e., 饿，不饿 is not the expected form). This distractor sounds plausible but has no grammatical basis. D is wrong for a similar reason: A-not-A questions do not require respondents to echo both parts of the question. That misunderstands the purpose of the construction entirely. A useful study tip: for A-not-A questions, remember that responses are shorter than the question — when in doubt, the simpler the answer (不 or 不饿), the more natural it is.

Question 5

A textbook exercise asks students to convert the following statement into a yes/no question using the 吗 pattern: '他是你的老师。'

A student writes: '他是不是你的老师吗？' The student's teacher marks this answer wrong. Which explanation BEST justifies why the teacher's marking is correct?

  1. The sentence is wrong because 是不是 is not a valid A-not-A construction; the correct A-not-A form for 是 must be written as 是否, which is a formal written register and cannot appear in spoken questions.
  2. The sentence is wrong because 是不是 and 吗 cannot co-occur in the same sentence; using both simultaneously creates a grammatically redundant and unacceptable double question marker. (correct answer)
  3. The sentence is wrong because the exercise specifically asked for the 吗 pattern, and 是不是 converts the sentence into a statement of assumption rather than a genuine yes/no question.
  4. The sentence is wrong because in A-not-A questions the negated verb must always appear at the end of the sentence rather than before the object, so 他是你的老师不是 would be the only correct form.
Explanation: When forming yes/no questions in Mandarin, you have two distinct tools available: the sentence-final particle 吗, and the A-not-A construction (e.g., 是不是). The critical rule is that these two strategies are mutually exclusive — each one alone is sufficient to signal a yes/no question, so combining them creates grammatical redundancy that native speakers find unacceptable. Think of it like asking "Did you eat, did you?" in English — the double-questioning feels awkward and violates conversational norms. This is exactly why B is correct. The student's sentence 他是不是你的老师吗？uses both 是不是 and 吗 simultaneously, creating a redundant double question marker. A correct 吗 version would be 他是你的老师吗？, and a correct A-not-A version would be 他是不是你的老师？ — either works, but never both together. A is wrong on two counts: 是不是 is indeed a valid A-not-A construction in spoken Mandarin, and 是否, while more formal, is not the only acceptable alternative. A misrepresents both grammar and register. C is wrong because 是不是 does not convert the sentence into a "statement of assumption" — it forms a perfectly valid yes/no question; the problem isn't about question type but about co-occurrence. D is wrong because A-not-A placement in Mandarin is governed by where the verb naturally falls in the sentence, not a fixed end-position rule; 他是你的老师不是 sounds unnatural and is not standard. As a study tip: always remember that 吗 and A-not-A are either/or question strategies in Mandarin — spotting both in the same sentence is an instant red flag.

Question 6

Which of the following sentences is grammatically INCORRECT as a yes/no question in Mandarin?

  1. 你喜不喜欢吃辣的？ — asking whether someone likes spicy food using the A-not-A pattern with a two-syllable verb.
  2. 你明天来不来？ — asking whether someone is coming tomorrow using the A-not-A pattern with a monosyllabic verb.
  3. 你去不去不去北京？ — asking whether someone is going to Beijing, with 不去 appended after the object to re-emphasize the negative option as an additional clarifier. (correct answer)
  4. 他们是不是学生？ — asking whether they are students using the A-not-A pattern with the copula 是.
Explanation: When forming yes/no questions in Mandarin, one of the most common structures is the A-not-A pattern (also called the affirmative-negative pattern). The rule is simple: you state the verb, then its negated form, giving the listener both options. The key constraint is that this structure appears once, cleanly, around the main verb — you don't repeat or scatter it across the sentence. Choice C breaks this rule entirely. 你去不去不去北京？ inserts an extra 不去 after the object 北京, which is grammatically malformed. The A-not-A question is already complete with 去不去 — adding another 不去 at the end creates a redundant, ungrammatical structure that no native speaker would use. This is the incorrect sentence. Choices A, B, and D are all textbook-correct uses of the A-not-A pattern. Choice A, 你喜不喜欢吃辣的？, correctly splits the two-syllable verb 喜欢 by inserting 不 after the first syllable — a standard rule for polysyllabic verbs. Choice B, 你明天来不来？, is a clean example with a monosyllabic verb: simply verb + 不 + verb. Choice D, 他们是不是学生？, correctly applies the pattern to the copula 是, which works the same way as any other verb in this structure. A useful study tip: whenever you see an A-not-A question, check that the negative element appears only once and only around the main verb. Any duplication or misplacement of the negative — especially after an object — is an immediate red flag that the sentence is ungrammatical.

Question 7

Li Ming wants to ask his friend: 'Are you going to the library or not?' He knows he should use an A-not-A question. His friend suggests the sentence: '你去图书馆不去？'

Which of the following statements about the friend's suggested sentence is most accurate?

  1. The sentence is grammatical and natural; placing the negative element and second verb at the very end after the object is a fully accepted alternative A-not-A word order in spoken Mandarin. (correct answer)
  2. The sentence is ungrammatical because in A-not-A questions, the object must always come after the entire V-不-V unit, making the only correct form 你去不去图书馆？
  3. The sentence is ungrammatical because 去 is a directional verb and directional verbs cannot appear in A-not-A question patterns; 吗 must be used instead.
  4. The sentence is grammatical only if 不去 is moved to the very beginning: 不去你图书馆？, because negation must precede the subject in formal Mandarin questions.
Explanation: When tackling A-not-A question structure in Mandarin, the key is remembering that this pattern has flexible word order, particularly in spoken language. The core rule is that the verb gets split with 不 inserted (V-不-V), but the placement of the object relative to this structure has legitimate variation. The friend's sentence '你去图书馆不去？' is actually grammatical and natural — making A the correct answer. In colloquial Mandarin, speakers commonly state the object first (placing it between the two verb instances) and then append 不去 at the end. This mirrors how native speakers might chunk information: establish the destination, then signal the yes/no choice. This pattern is widely documented in spoken Mandarin and is not considered an error. B is wrong because it overstates the rule. While '你去不去图书馆？' is indeed a clean, standard form, claiming it's the only correct structure is too rigid. Mandarin grammar — especially conversational grammar — tolerates object placement before or after the V-不-V unit. Treating one accepted variant as the sole correct form is a classic exam trap. C is wrong because it invents a rule that doesn't exist. There is no restriction barring directional or motion verbs like 去 from A-not-A patterns. 去不去 is one of the most common A-not-A constructions you'll encounter. D is wrong and describes a sentence that is genuinely ungrammatical. Mandarin does not front negation before the subject in questions — that word order simply doesn't exist in the language. Study tip: When evaluating A-not-A sentences, check whether the V-不-V relationship is intact — object placement around it is flexible, especially in speech.

Question 8

A student learning Mandarin produces the sentence: '你是学生是吗？' intending to ask 'Are you a student?' Which of the following best describes this sentence?

  1. The sentence is grammatical; it represents the tag-question variant of the A-not-A pattern, where 是吗 functions as the condensed negative-affirmative marker placed after the full predicate.
  2. The sentence is grammatical only in written Mandarin; in spoken Mandarin, confirmation tags must use 对不对 or 是不是 rather than 是吗, so this form is unacceptable in conversation.
  3. The sentence is ungrammatical because 是吗 at the end creates a redundant question structure — the preceding 你是学生 is already a complete declarative clause, and Mandarin does not permit a bare 吗 tag after a full subject-predicate sentence.
  4. The sentence is grammatical; appending 是吗 to a declarative sentence is a standard tag-question pattern in conversational Mandarin used to seek confirmation, equivalent to 'right?' or 'isn't that so?' (correct answer)
Explanation: When you see a question about yes/no questions in Mandarin, ask yourself: what are the legitimate ways to turn a declarative statement into a question seeking confirmation? In conversational Mandarin, one of the most natural and common tag-question patterns is to take a declarative sentence and append 是吗 at the end. This functions like the English "right?" or "isn't that so?" — you're presenting a statement and inviting the listener to confirm or deny it. So 你是学生是吗？ ("You're a student, right?") is perfectly grammatical and widely used in everyday speech. That makes D the correct answer. Here's why the distractors miss the mark. A misidentifies the structure by calling 是吗 a "condensed negative-affirmative marker" — that's a description of the A-not-A pattern (like 是不是 or 对不对), which has a different form and function. 是吗 is simply a confirmation tag, not a condensed A-not-A construction. B is factually wrong: 是吗 is more characteristic of spoken, conversational Mandarin than written Mandarin — it's colloquial and natural in dialogue. Claiming it's restricted to written form reverses reality. C suggests that attaching 吗 after a complete clause is redundant or ungrammatical, but this is incorrect. Mandarin regularly uses 吗 to convert declarative sentences into questions, and 是吗 as a tag is a standard, accepted structure — there's no grammatical prohibition here. A useful tip: remember that 是吗, 对吗, 是不是, and 对不对 are all confirmation-seeking tools, but they have different structures. 是吗 and 对吗 use a simple particle tag; 是不是 and 对不对 use the A-not-A format. Both strategies are grammatical in conversation.

Question 9

A learner wants to ask 'Do you have time?' using the A-not-A pattern. The verb is 有 (yǒu). Which of the following correctly applies the A-not-A pattern to this sentence?

  1. 你有没有时间？ — repeating 有 in its negative form 没有 to create the A-not-A structure with the object following at the end. (correct answer)
  2. 你有时间没有时间？ — repeating the full verb phrase including the object both before and after the negative to create the A-not-A contrast.
  3. 你有时间不有时间？ — using 不 as the standard negator between the two halves of the A-not-A structure since 不 is the default negation particle.
  4. 你有不有时间？ — placing 不 between the two instances of 有 before the object, following the same rule used for adjectives like 忙不忙.
Explanation: When tackling A-not-A questions in Mandarin, your key focus should be the verb itself and how its negation works — because not all verbs negate the same way. The A-not-A pattern works by sandwiching the negative form of a verb between two instances of the verb, letting the listener choose between affirmative and negative. The crucial rule is that 有 (yǒu) negates with 没, not 不. So the correct A-not-A structure for 有 is 有没有, and the object (时间) follows at the end: 你有没有时间？ This is answer A, and it's the natural, grammatically correct way a native speaker would ask "Do you have time?" Answer B — 你有时间没有时间？ — over-expands the structure by repeating the full verb-object phrase on both sides. The A-not-A pattern compresses the verb, not the entire predicate with its object. Answer C — 你有时间不有时间？ — uses 不 to negate 有, which is simply wrong. 有 is one of the few verbs in Mandarin that takes 没 (not 不) as its negator in all contexts, including the A-not-A pattern. Answer D — 你有不有时间？ — looks logical by analogy to adjectives like 忙不忙, but it applies the wrong negator. Adjectives and most verbs use 不, but 有 always uses 没. Mixing these up is an extremely common learner mistake. Your study tip: memorize 有 as the exception. Its A-not-A form is always 有没有, never 有不有. When you see 有 in any yes/no question, reach for 没 — not 不.

Question 10

A speaker says: '你吃饭了吗？' A classmate claims this sentence is wrong because the aspect marker 了 cannot appear in a 吗 question. Which response best evaluates the classmate's claim?

  1. The classmate is correct; aspect markers like 了 signal completed actions, which are statements of fact, and facts cannot be questioned using 吗, so 了 must be removed before adding 吗.
  2. The classmate is incorrect; 了 can appear in 吗 questions to ask about whether a completed action has taken place, making '你吃饭了吗？' a grammatical and commonly used sentence meaning 'Have you eaten?' (correct answer)
  3. The classmate is partially correct; 了 can appear in 吗 questions, but only if the verb is monosyllabic, so '你吃饭了吗？' is ungrammatical because 吃饭 is a two-syllable verb-object compound.
  4. The classmate is correct; when 了 is present, the A-not-A pattern must be used instead of 吗, so the sentence should be rewritten as '你吃了饭没有？' to be grammatically acceptable.
Explanation: When studying Mandarin question formation, it helps to understand that the particle 了 (aspect marker for completed actions) and the question particle 吗 serve completely independent grammatical functions — one marks aspect, the other marks sentence type. There is no rule preventing them from co-occurring. '你吃饭了吗？' is a perfectly natural, grammatical sentence meaning "Have you eaten?" You'll hear and use this exact structure constantly in everyday Mandarin. The 了 signals that eating is being framed as a completed event, while 吗 simply turns the statement into a yes/no question. Together, they ask whether that completion has occurred. This makes B the correct evaluation — the classmate's claim is simply wrong. A is incorrect because it invents a false rule. Completed actions can absolutely be questioned; asking whether something happened is one of the most common reasons to form a question in the first place. C introduces a syllable-count restriction that does not exist in Mandarin grammar. The number of syllables in a verb or verb-object compound has no bearing on whether 了 and 吗 can co-occur. D conflates two separate constructions. While '你吃了饭没有？' is indeed a valid alternative question structure using the 有没有 pattern, it is not a required replacement — both forms are grammatically acceptable, and 吗 questions with 了 are not forbidden. A useful study tip: when a classmate or answer choice claims a common, everyday sentence is "wrong," be skeptical. If you've heard native speakers use it naturally, the grammar rule being cited is probably invented. Trust your exposure to real conversational Mandarin.