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Questions

Question words stay where the answer goes

什么, 哪儿 and 谁 sit in the slot the answer will fill. Nothing moves to the front.

English moves its question words to the front: you are going where becomes where are you going. Chinese leaves them in place. To ask a question, say the answer sentence and swap the unknown part for a question word. These questions never take 吗.

Examples

你去哪儿? nǎr?where are you going?
我去北京 BěijīngI'm going to Beijingthe place fills the same slot
这是什么?zhè shì shénme?what is this?
他是谁? shì shéi?who is he?

Watch out

The mistake this causes

Adding 吗 to a question that already has a question word, as in 你去哪儿吗. One or the other.