Chinese Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative Pronouns are the “who? what? when? where? why? how?” questions you may have learned at school. Interrogative Pronouns are essnetially the thing we are asking about.

Chinese Interrogative Pronouns are:

Chinese Interrogative Pronoun	English Interrogative Pronoun
什shén么me	What?
哪nǎ	Which?
哪nǎ些xiē	Which (Plural)?
谁shéi	Who?
谁shéi的de	Whose?
什shén么me时shí候hou	When?
哪nǎ里lǐ	Where?
为wèi什shén么me	Why?

With interrogative pronouns, the word order between the question and statement does not change, here are examples of each of the above pronouns

Question	Answer
“what is this?” 这zhè是shì什shén么me？? Literally: “this is what?”	“this is my stuff.” 这zhè是shì我wǒ的de东dōng西xi。.
“which kind do you like?” 你nǐ喜xǐ欢huan哪nǎ种zhǒng？? Literally: “you like which kind?”	“I like this kind.” 我wǒ喜xǐ欢huan这zhè个ge。.
“which kinds do you like?” 你nǐ喜xǐ欢huan那nà些xiē种zhǒng？? Literally: “you like which kinds？“	“I like these kinds.” 我wǒ喜xǐ欢huan这zhè些xiē种zhǒng。.
“who is he?” 他tā是shì谁shéi？? Literally: “he is who?”	“He is my teacher.” 她tā是shì我wǒ的de老lǎo师shī。.
“this is whose?” 这zhè是shì谁shéi的de？? Literally: “this is whose?”	“this is mine.” 这zhè是shì我wǒ的de。.
“when did he go?” 他tā什shén么me时shí候hou去qù？? Literally: “he when went?”	“he went at 3pm.” 他tā昨zuó天tiān去qù。. Literally: “he yesterday went.”
“where are you?” 你nǐ在zài哪nǎ里lǐ？? Literally: “you located where?”	“I’m at home.” 我wǒ在zài家jiā。.
“why did you go?” 你nǐ为wèi什shén么me去qù？? Literally: “you why went?”	“I like to go.” 我wǒ喜xǐ欢huan去qù。.