Questions About the Modal Particle 吧

[Rainbow]

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A question with indicates that the speaker is almost certain of the situation) but not 100% sure. Frequently* adverbs such as —定（yídìnɡ‘definitely”) and 大概 （dàɡài ‘probably”) can be used in such a question, but 吧 alone can serve the function of indicating near certainty.

(a)吧！or 吧 ？
It is acceptable to use an exclamation mark instead of a question mark after 吧。

你工作了一整天，（一定)累了吧！ *
nǐ ɡōnɡzuò le yì zhěnɡtiān , (yídìnɡ) lèi le ba!
You worked all day; you must be tired，aren’t you?

这本书上写着你的名字，是你的吧？
zhè běn shū shang xiě zhe nǐ de mínɡzi, shì nǐ de ba?
This book has your name written in it. It must be yours, isn’t it?

(b)吗or吧？
Although questions with 吧and 吗 both indicate that the speaker has made an assumption of •thee situation and has an expectation as to what the answer will be, shows a stronger assumption or expectation than 吗.
(Situation: Someone has bought several French textbooks and two French dictionaries at a bookshop. The cashier could ask any of the following:)

你是学法文的吧？
nǐ shì xué fǎwén de ba? (Near certainty.)
You must be studying French, aren’t you?

你是学法文的吗？
nǐ shì xué fǎwén de ma? (Expecting’ yes’ to be the answer.)
Are you studying French?

你是不是学法文的？
nǐ shìbùshì xué fǎwén de? (No assumption.)
Are you (or are you not) studying French?

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[Rainbow]

feel free to ask any other question here! I would love to offer any help!

[Zak]

This was actually quite useful. 吧 is one of those early learns that you pick up early and tehn egregiously misuse throughout.

What about 嘛？Modal particle to add emphasis? Any other fancy uses?

[Rainbow]

Thanks for your question, if you want to know more and learn more, you can follow the official account on WeChat: Rainbow_Concept, we will share lot of Chinese knowledge on it.

嘛ma, usually at the end of sentence, or short phrase.
1 Modal particle to mean “it is obviously”. exampl:
不会不要紧，边干边学嘛。
（búhuì bùyàojǐn 　bian ɡān bian xué ma ）
Its doesn’t matter if you know nothing about it, you can learn while you do.
你想去你就去嘛。
（nǐ xiǎnɡ qù nǐ jiù qù ma.）
If you like to go just go!

2 after a short phrase, pause function, means to attact people’s attention to the next phrase about coming out. example.
我嘛，就不去了。
（wǒ ma 　jiù búqù le. ）
and me, I won’t be there.

休假嘛，就是要好好玩。
(xiūjiǎ ma 　jiùshì yàohǎo hǎowán.)
Its holiday, should be fun!

[Author]

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