Look Who it Was Random video

Beginner Mandarin Chinese: "Supposition 吧 (Ba)" with eChineseLearning

3,578 views · Published 9 June 2018 · 7:28 · Indexed 12 November 2026

Channel: eChineseLearning · 2018 · Education

Watch on YouTube

Every journey starts with a small first step! To change your life for the better and exercise your brain in a challenging new way, you can start to learn Chinese today. You can sign up for a Free Trial lesson with us today: https://goo.gl/c7mCGM
________________________

Today, Teacher Ellie examines the particle  "吧 (ba)". The particle 吧 (ba) has no equivalent in English grammar. For this reason, it is a difficult grammatical point for many Chinese learners. In addition, the particle  "吧 (ba)" also changes the structure of the sentence.

When you use 吧 (ba), you have to remember to put the subject of the sentence before the verb. Since this structure is not found in English, many will get confused by this.
________________________

Ellie introduces two important sentence structures in this lesson:

subject + 是 (shì) + Object + 吧 (ba)

By adding 吧 (ba) at the end of the sentence, the sentence becomes a question.

Nǐ shì Vivian ba?
你是 Vivian 吧?
You are Vivian, aren't you?

是 (shì) = is, am or are

If you're making a supposition, you just need to add 吧 (ba) at the end of the declarative sentence. Then, it becomes a tag question.
________________________

The second structure you can learn today is:

Subject + 会 (huì) + verb + object + 吧 (ba)

会 (huì) = can, or 'to be able to' in terms of having a skill or ability

The equivalent in English is "tag question".
________________________

Watch today's helpful video lesson and stick around for the useful Quiz afterwards. You can check your answers with us here: https://goo.gl/jKmXaf

Don't forget to subscribe and stay tuned for more Chinese lessons with us. Learn Chinese on Skype and enjoy our online Chinese conversation lessons with qualified teachers in China!

Please like, share and comment on today's video to keep in touch with us.

More from this channel