Example sentences
nǐ你qù去ma吗？
Are you going?
zhè这yàng样xíng行ma吗？
Is this okay?
The story behind the character
吗
吗 turns a statement into a yes-no question. Take 你是学生, add 吗, and you have 你是学生吗. No word order changes, no "do" or "are" to move to the front. Answers repeat the verb: 是 or 不是, 有 or 没有. 吗 only works for yes-no questions, and it never appears alongside a question word like 什么 or 谁. 你好吗 is fine. 你叫什么吗 is not.