Question Word Questions (什么, 谁, 哪)

Chinese question words include 什么 (shénme, "what"), 谁 (shéi, "who"), 哪 (nǎ, "which"), 哪儿/哪里 (nǎr/nǎlǐ, "where"), 几 (jǐ, "how many"), and 怎么 (zěnme, "how"). The most elegant thing about Chinese questions is that the word order does not change. The question word simply occupies the position where the answer would go.

Consider the statement "他是老师" (He is a teacher). To ask "Who is a teacher?", replace the subject with 谁: "谁是老师？" To ask "He is what (what does he do)?", replace the object: "他是什么？" The rest of the sentence stays exactly the same. Compare this to English, where "He is a teacher" becomes "What is he?" with a complete rearrangement of words.

Important: do not add 吗 to a sentence that already contains a question word. 吗 is for yes/no questions where no question word is present. "你吃什么？" (What do you eat?) is already a complete question. Adding 吗 to make "你吃什么吗？" is incorrect. Each sentence should use either a question word OR 吗, but never both.