Level 1 · Beginner
Questions with V不V
V + 不 + V (+ Obj.)？
Instead of adding 吗, you can ask a yes/no question by saying the verb both ways — positive then negative: 你去不去？ literally "you go not go?" = "Are you going?" It works with adjectives too: 好不好？"Is it good?" The answer just picks a side: 去 or 不去.
Short tags like 是不是, 对不对, and 好不好 hang on the end of a statement to ask "right?" or "okay?": 我们去公园，好不好？ One rule: this pattern IS the question, so never add 吗 on top.
Examples
你去不去？
nǐ qù bù qù
Are you going?
你喝不喝茶？
nǐ hē bù hē chá
Do you drink tea?
你是不是学生？
你是不是學生？
nǐ shì bù shì xué sheng
Are you a student?
我们去公园，好不好？
我們去公園，好不好？
wǒ men qù gōng yuán hǎo bù hǎo
Let's go to the park, okay?
Common mistakes
✗ 你去不去吗？
✓ 你去不去？
V不V is already a question — 吗 never joins it.
Related grammar points
Practice this pattern in graded stories like A Traffic Jam Afternoon (Part 3), Climbing the Great Wall (Part 10), Asking for Directions (Part 1) inside the Literate Chinese app.
