嗎 (Ma) basically is a question word in sense like when we say "do" - "does" or "be" (am, is, are) in English. For example
Do you have Chinese book?
Does he has car?
Are you Mike?
Are you teacher?
Which means, actually require simple answer which sometimes no need further explication for the answer.
Yes, I have.
or
Yes, I am.
So, sometimes question word of 嗎 (Ma) is called "yes-no questions"
Now, We have already learnt how to say have/has in previous article. It is 有 (Yǒu). Meanwhile "be" (am, is and are) in Mandarin is 是 (Shì).
So, when you asking people whether
do you have/has ...
or
Are you ...
You can use the word 有 (Yǒu) or 是 (Shì), depend of what question are you asking.
Here are the forms for those question sentences:
1. If you want to ask others whether they have / has something, using question word 嗎
你今天有功課嗎？ Nǐ jīn tiān yǒu gōng kè ma? Do you have homework today?
他有弟弟嗎？ Tā yǒu dì di ma? Does he have a younger brother?
有...嗎 ? means do you have? or does someone have?
The form is
Subject + 有 + noun + 嗎 ?
you can put the time (For example: today 今天) after the subject
2. If you want to ask others about who or what are they?
你是麥克嗎？ Nǐ shì mài kè ma? Are you Mike?
她是老師嗎？ Tā shì lǎoshī ma? Is she a teacher?
是...嗎 ? means are you
The form is
Subject + 是 + noun + 嗎?
3. If you want to ask others whether they can do something.
For example:
你吃雞肉嗎？ Nǐ chī jī ròu ma? Do you eat chicken?
你喝可樂嗎？ Nǐ hē kě lè ma? Do you drink coca cola?
妳跳舞嗎？ Nǐ tiào wǔ ma? Do you dance? (is actually asking can you dance?)
你唱歌嗎？ Nǐ chàng gē ma? Do you sing? (is actually asking can you sing?)
These all are the examples about whether those people usually do or eat those things or not.
But you can ask specifically whether that person can or like to do something,
by adding modal verbs after subject:
Subject + Auxiliary + verb + object + 嗎？
For example:
你會說英文嗎？ Nǐ huì shuō yīng wén ma? Can you speak English?
你能吃豬肉嗎？ Nǐ néng chī zhū ròu ma? Can you eat pork?
你喜歡看電視嗎？ Nǐ xǐ huān kàn diàn shì ma? Do you like to watch TV?
your answers are:
我會 or 我會說英文。
我能吃 or 我能吃豬肉。
我喜歡 or 我喜歡看電視。
Auxiliary:
會 (huì = can; know how to ...)、
能 (néng = can; physical potency; things approved)、
愛 (ài = love to, really like to do something)、
喜歡 (xǐ huān = like to)。
Notes:
會 and 能 translation mostly are can or able to. but here is the hint of basic concept:
A) 會 means you know how to ... (do something). When we say 會 it more talks about the way or methods, you know the steps. So, 會 is actually means people can do certain things because those activities can be Learned by people (refer to the subject's influence), for example: 我會開車 (wǒ huì kāi chē = I can drive), 我會彈鋼琴 (wǒ huì dàn gāng qín = I can play piano). Meanwhile 能 is naturally can (such as: drink, sit, watching TV, etc).
B) 能 is actually means natural capability, when you know your body can bring certain thing or physically able to do something. But mostly, when we say 能, it refer to whether we are allowed to do something or get permission to do certain thing (refer to outside influence). For example you are under 16 years old, and your friend asks you whether tonight you can hangout with them in certain mall?
你今天晚上能跟我們出去玩嗎？
Nǐ jīn tiān wǎn shàng néng gēn wǒ men chū qù wán ma?
Can you hangout with us tonight?
Then your answer is
我能 (if you are allowed) = I can
and
我不能 (if you are not allowed) = I cannot
The differences is obvious with these words:
他很能吃 tā hěn néng chī = means physically able to eat a lof of food (direct translation: he really can eat)
他很會吃 tā hěn huì chī = means he can eat ideally (He knows how to eat good food in healthy way) (direct translation: he really can eat)
So now, tell us whether you understood
the explications about 嗎 above or not,
by translating these sentences:
她是你妹妹嗎？ Tā shì nǐ mèi mei ma?
你有中文書嗎？ Nǐ yǒu zhòng wén shū ma?
麥克是你哥哥嗎？ Mài kè shì nǐ gē ge ma?
你爸爸有工作嗎？ Nǐ bà ba yǒu gōng zuò ma?
你有五百塊錢嗎？ Nǐ yǒu wǔ bǎi kuài qián ma?
你喜歡吃豬肉嗎？nǐ xǐ huān chī zhū ròu ma?
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