University of Cambridge Language Centre Chinese Intermediate

Modal particles

One feature of the Chinese language is its use of end-of-sentence particles which changes the mood of the sentence to reflect the attitude of the speaker or narrator. Such particles can be used to express confirmation, exaggeration, hesitation, interrogation, supposition, command, exclamation, etc. The most used modal particles include: 啊, 呀, 吧, 呢, 啦.

啊 a / 呀 ya

啊 a / 呀 ya

呀 is a variation of 啊. (Due to regional accents, some modal particles can have different written forms.) It is used:

  • to soften the interrogative tone in questions:

你明天来不来啊？Are you coming tomorrow?

你是从哪儿打来的呀？Where are you ringing from?

  • to add insistence in imperative sentences:

你有空来看我们啊！Come to visit us when you have free time!

你一定要相信我呀！You must believe me!

  • to indicate the need for clarification or confirmation when repeating a statement:

两个月了呀？It's been two months?

你还记得吃大闸蟹的事呀！Fancy you remembering the Chinese crabs!

Hence the sentence can become more of an exclamation than a genuine question.

  • more often, to express emotion in exclamations:

我好想念中国啊！I do miss China!

听起来很不错呀！It sounds great!

吧 ba

吧 ba

The particle 吧 is used:

  • at the end of yes/no questions to indicate an inquisitive mood:

您和家人都挺好的吧？Are you and your family all well?

The difference between 吧 and 吗 when used at the end of a yes/no question is that 吧 implies the speaker's confidence about the answer and only indicates a request for confirmation, while 吗 has no such implication.

  • at the end of imperative sentences to express requests, polite commands or suggestions:

替我恭喜他们吧！Please pass on my congratulations to them!

说说你自己吧。Tell me about yourself.

我组织销售部的同事一起聚餐吧！I’ll organise a reunion meal in the Sales Department!

呢 ne

呢 ne

The particle 呢 is used:

  • at the end of an interrogative clause introduced by a question marker to indicate an hypothetic tone:

她什么时候来上海呢？When is she coming to Shanghai?

  • at the end of a statement to indicate that an action or a situation has changed or is in some form of progress:

我平时常和中国的同事去那里解馋呢！My colleagues and I often escape there for a meal to feed our craving for Chinese food!

A common pattern is 还……呢, meaning ‘still…’, to stress the fact or the continuation of a status.

我还记得以前去你们家吃大闸蟹的事呢！I still remember those delicious Chinese crabs we had at your place!

啦 la

啦 la

The particle 啦 is used:

  • to indicate a pause or to separate items in a list:

我们公司的员工各个国家的都有：英国啦，中国啦，德国啦…… Staff in our company come from various countries: England, China, Germany, etc.

  • to express some confirmation: 还好啦。That’s all right.


Note that the above list of modal particles is by no means exhaustive. In most cases, one particle can be used to indicate several moods, and one mood can be expressed by the use of different particles.


The correct modal particle

Decide which modal particle to use in the following sentences. Check your answers.

1. 消息传得真快 ！
How fast the news has spread!

2. 笑笑已经开始上学了 ?!
Xiaoxiao has already started school?!

3. 你现在在哪里工作 ?
Where are you working now?

4. 我们利用那两天的时间见个面 !
Let's meet up on those two days!

5. 我挺好的，你 ?
I'm fine, what about you?

6. 先这样 ，我们回头再聊！
That's it for now, talk again soon!

7. 你在伦敦的新工作挺顺利的 ?
Is everything going well with your new work in London?

8. 你打算买房还是租房 ?
Do you plan to buy or rent a flat?

9. 张经理正在开会 ，你稍等一下 ！
Manager Zhang is at a meeting, please wait for a minute!

10. 笑笑周末要上很多课，钢琴课 ，英语课 ，书法课 …… 现在的学生真是忙 ！
Xiaoxiao has a lot of lessons over the weekend, such as a piano lesson, an English lesson, a calligraphy lesson…, how busy students are nowadays!

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