# yes/no question word



## Nizo

In Esperanto, yes/no questions begin with the word _ĉu_, which I understand comes from the Polish _czy_.

_la ĉielo estas blua_ = the sky is blue
_ĉu la ĉielo estas blua?_ = is the sky blue?

_la domo estas granda_ = the house is big
_ĉu la domo estas granda?_ = is the house big?

_vi povas manĝi_ = you can eat
_ĉu vi povas manĝi_ = can you eat?

The word _ĉu_ can also be tacked onto the end of the sentence as an interrogative:  _vi iras, ĉu?_  you’re going, right?

I learned today that Hindi has a similar yes/no question word _kya_ (--sorry I don’t have a Devanagari font).  Apparently it can also be tacked onto the end of the sentence as a question word.

I’m wondering what other languages have a similar word.  I can’t think of any equivalent in Romance languages or in Germanic languages…

Thanks for your help!


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## DearPrudence

It makes me think of the French "*est-ce que*"

In French, there are 3 ways of asking questions. From the most formal to the most informal:
(affirmative sentence: *Le ciel est bleu (the sky is blue*))

*Le ciel est-il bleu ?* (subject pronoun/auxiliary invertion)
*Est-ce que le ciel est bleu ?*
*Le ciel est bleu ? *= same sentence as the affirmative one but when you write, you add a question mark & when you speak, it's a different tone

Let's note that this "est-ce" also appears in open questions:
*"Quand est-ce que vous partez ?*" (when are you leaving?)


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## DrWatson

Finnish doesn't have a question word for yes/no questions. It's a suffix instead. The suffix is either *-ko* or *-kö* depending on the vowel harmony. It can be attached to nearly every word in a sentence. The choice results in a different emphasis depending on the word which you choose to attach the suffix to.

For example, the sentence *Pallo on sininen* = The ball is blue.
*Onko pallo sininen? = *Is the ball blue?
*Palloko on sininen? = *Is it the ball that's blue? (and not the bike, for example)
*Sininenkö pallo on? = *Is the ball _blue_? (and not yellow, for instance)

Through my limited knowledge of Estonian I recall there is a separate word in Estonian for yes/no questions, *kas*.
*Sa räägid inglise keelt.* = You speak English. Interrogative version would be *Kas sa räägid inglise keelt?* = Do you speak English? I suppose you can put emphasis on different words by changing the word order, but I've got no knowledge of that.


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## Nizo

Thank you both.  I've learned more on my own, as well, since I posted this question!  Apparently this is termed an "interrogative particle."  It is found also as an initial word in Irish (Gaeilge) (_an_) and as a final word in Chinese 吗(_ma_).  Very interesting!  I'm looking forward to hearing from others.


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## Kael

In Latin there are the special word endings/words that suggest a question:

Using the sentence "The sky is blue," as an example...

1. Caelumne caeruleum est? (-ne, asking an open question.)
2. Caelum nonne caeruleum est? ( nonne, expecting an answer with 'yes'.)
3. Caelum pratinum num est? "The sky is green?" ( num, expecting an answer with 'no'.)


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## karuna

In Latvian the interrogative particle is _vai__. _

_debesis ir zilas _= the sky is blue
_vai debesis ir zilas?_ = is the sky blue?

_māja ir liela _= the house is big
_vai māja ir liela?_ = is the house big?

_tu drīksti ēst_ = you can eat
_vai tu drīksti ēst?_ = can you eat?

In colloquial language it is sometimes omitted and yes/no question indicated only by intonation. 

It is used at the end of the sentence as "aren't you?" _vi iras, ĉu? – tu iesi, vai ne?

_


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## Flaminius

karuna said:
			
		

> It is used at the end of the sentence as "aren't you?" _vi iras, ĉu? – tu iesi, vai ne?_


Could you provide a translation?    Among other things, I don't think I have encountered "ĉ" in Latvian texts.

In Japanese the interrogative particle is _-ka_at the end of a sentence.  Verb inversion is not used in any Japanese constructions, by the way.

_sora-wa aoi desu _= The sky is blue.
_sora-wa aoi desu-ka?_ = Is the sky blue?

_densha-ga eki-ni tsukimashita_= The train has arrived at the station.
_densha-ga eki-ni tsukimashita-ka__?_ = Has the train arrived at the station?

If polite auxiliaries such as _desu_ and _masu_ (_mashita_, here) are not used, _-ka_ is not used in conversation, although it is perfectly okay in a more formal written Japanese.  The casual interrogative particle is _-no_.

_sora-wa aoi-yo / aoi-ne _= The sky is blue.
_sora-wa aoi-no?_ = Is the sky blue?

_densha-ga eki-ni tsuita-yo / tsuita-ne_= The train has arrived at the station.
_densha-ga eki-ni tsuita-no__?_ = Has the train arrived at the station?


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## karuna

Flaminius said:


> Could you provide a translation?    Among other things, I don't think I have encountered "ĉ" in Latvian texts.



Sorry, I copy-pasted the wrong part. It should have been
_tu iesi, vai ne? – _you're going, right?


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## ukuca

In Turkish, we add suffixes like -mi, mı, mu, mü according to the preceding syllable, for example:
- Eve döndün > You returned to the house
- Eve döndün mü? > Did you return to the house?
- Bu araba onun. > This car belongs to him.
- Bu araba onun mu? > Does this car belong to him?
And there's another form of asking yes/no questions which is similar to French "n'est-ce pas" or "isn't it/doesn't it/etc." in English. We can add that at the end of an affirmative sentence:
- Bu araba onun. > Cette voiture est à lui.
- Bu araba onun, *değil mi? *> Cette voiture est à lui, *n'est-ce pas*?


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## Outsider

I know you said the Esperanto word is derived from Polish, but I find it reminiscent of Italian *C'è...? *(equivalent to French *C'est...?*, or *Est-ce...?*)


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## Babakexorramdin

In Persian there is this word Aya [ prounoce Ââ-yâ], which is only used in formal written language. he Polish Czy and Indic Kya might be related but this Persian Aya seems to be unrelated.
There is a word in Georgian tu which in this context roughly means if. This word is not necessarily used in this concept but is frequently used in the Georgian language. e.g. Tu Sheidzleba (if possible).
Although phonetically somehow similar, I do not think that the Georgian Tu is related toi the Indo-European Czy-cu, or Kya however.


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## modus.irrealis

Kael said:


> In Latin there are the special word endings/words that suggest a question:


Ancient Greek had an analogous set of words:

ἦ (ê), ἆρα (ara) = -ne
oὐ (ou), ἆρ' οὐ (ar' ou), ούκοῦν (oukoun) = nonne
μή (mê), ἆρα μή (ara mê), μῶν (môn) = num

Although the first equation is probably not entirely accurate because you could always ask an open yes/no question without any additional word, so ἆρα could mean something more than -ne, like adding "really" to an English question.


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## Jeedade

Outsider said:


> I know you said the Esperanto word is derived from Polish, but I find it reminiscent of Italian *C'è...?*


Yes, but you don’t use the Italian “c’è” to turn an affirmative sentence into a question.


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## Outsider

The French phrase *est-ce que* seems to be close to the same function, though. (See DearPrudence's example above.) Still, I don't think it has a negative counterpart...


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## cherine

In Arabic there are two ways:
- hal هل
Using one of the examples of the first post:
Would you like to eat?
هل تحب أن تأكل؟
hal tuHibbu an ta2kul(a)?

- and the "hamza" or the letter alif أ 
أتحب أن تأكل؟
atuHibbu an ta2kul(a)?


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## J.F. de TROYES

I suppose that هل is never used in Egyptian Arabic or any other spoken Arabic and  questions are formed simply by changing the intonation ?


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## cherine

It's the case in Egyptian Arabic. But I'm not sure about the other dialects, though most probably they'd be the same (i.e. only depend on the intonation).


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## palomnik

I think that most of the answers given so far confuse interrogative particles (Arabic _hal, _Chinese _ma, _Japanese _ka, _etc.) with tag questions (French _n'est-ce pas, _German _nicht wahr, _etc).  I don't think that these two categories are much alike, either from a structural point of view or in the sense that they impart to a sentence.


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## Outsider

Perhaps, but do note that _est-ce que_ is not a tag question.


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## J.F. de TROYES

palomnik said:


> I think that most of the answers given so far confuse interrogative particles (Arabic _hal, _Chinese _ma, _Japanese _ka, _etc.) with tag questions (French _n'est-ce pas, _German _nicht wahr, _etc). I don't think that these two categories are much alike, either from a structural point of view or in the sense that they impart to a sentence.


 
I think so as well. The first post gives the example of the Esperanto where the same word happens to be used either as an interrogative particle or a question tag ; in most languages it doesn't work this way and it seems to me that question tags are not so various as in English.


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## Joannes

palomnik said:


> I think that most of the answers given so far confuse interrogative particles (Arabic _hal, _Chinese _ma, _Japanese _ka, _etc.) with tag questions (French _n'est-ce pas, _German _nicht wahr, _etc). I don't think that these two categories are much alike, either from a structural point of view or in the sense that they impart to a sentence.


Why do you say so? The only one I would definitely consider a tag is Turkish *değil mi*, which was mentioned next to the real interrogative morpheme/particle.

*Est-ce que* is probably not to be analysed as a particle in the real sense of the word, but it appears to function like one. (This is illustrated by the case in Songhay (Koyra Chiini), spoken in Mali, which borrowed the construction (*eskë*) and its usage but where it is _de facto_ a particle.)

I can't really tell but Georgian *tu*, meaning 'or', is possibly also to be considered a tag, similar to German constructions with *oder*, e.g. *er hat keinen Hund, oder?* (or something like that.  notice the bias leading towards *nein* 'no', by the way.). It's hard to draw a line though, what is a clause-final Q-particle and what is a tag? Intonational contours often help, but I'm not sure if they're always distinctive.



cherine said:


> J.F. de TROYES said:
> 
> 
> 
> I suppose that هل is never used in Egyptian Arabic or any other spoken Arabic and questions are formed simply by changing the intonation ?
> 
> 
> 
> It's the case in Egyptian Arabic. But I'm not sure about the other dialects, though most probably they'd be the same (i.e. only depend on the intonation).
Click to expand...

 
I remember having read that in Egyptian Arabic questions could also be marked by the placement of a pronoun. Vague, I know, maybe I can look it up tomorrow.


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## J.F. de TROYES

*Chinese*

Two ways of asking open question with the same meaning :

1- Adding the particle *吗* at the end of the sentence
2- Using the structure Verb+negation+verb


他明天会来  ta1 ming2tian1 hui2 lai2
    He will ( can ) come to-morrow

1-   你明天会来吗?    ni3 ming2-tian1 hui2 lai2 ma ?
       Will (Can ) you come to-morrow ?

2-  你明天来不来 ?    ni3 ming2-tian1 lai2 bu2 lai2 ? 
        Will you come to-morrow ?


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## tanzhang

In Tagalog it's ba

May kinuha ka "ba" sa rep?
Did you get something from the fridge?

May kinuha ako sa rep.
I did get something from the fridge.


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## J.F. de TROYES

*Burmese*

The particle -လ / 'la is simply added at the end of the declarative sentence.

မနက်ဖြန်လာမလ /məne?pyaN/la mə-là

Will he/she/they come to-morrow?


*Thai *
The same with the particle *ไหม *

*เขาผร่งนิัมาไหม ma'y kha'o phrûng ni'i maa ma'y?*

Will he/she/they come to-morrow?


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## HistofEng

Joannes said:


> *Est-ce que* is probably not to be analysed as a particle in the real sense of the word, but it appears to function like one. (This is illustrated by the case in Songhay (Koyra Chiini), spoken in Mali, which borrowed the construction (*eskë*) and its usage but where it is _de facto_ a particle.)


 
It's the same in Haitian-Creole, which adds the particle "*eske*" to turn astatement into a yes/no question.

Li te manje.  -- He had eaten.
_Eske_ li (or _Eske'l_) te manje? -- Had he eaten?


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## Joannes

Joannes said:


> I remember having read that in Egyptian Arabic questions could also be marked by the placement of a pronoun. Vague, I know, maybe I can look it up tomorrow.


 
Found it.  Apparently *huwwa* 'he', *hijja* 'she' and *humma* 'they' can be used as question markers. As in:
*huwwa 2inti gaaja 2innakharda* 'Are you coming today?'

The same source also mentions suffixation of *-sh* (contracted of negative *ma---sh*) as a (less common) way to form yes/no questions.
*shuftii-sh kitaab 2shshi3r bitaa3i* 'Have you seen my poetry book?'



HistofEng said:


> It's the same in Haitian-Creole, which adds the particle "*eske*" to turn astatement into a yes/no question.
> 
> Li te manje. -- He had eaten.
> _Eske_ li (or _Eske'l_) te manje? -- Had he eaten?


 
Interesting.  I guess it will be the same in most other French based creoles as well, (which - for clarity's sake - Songhay is not).


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## Lugubert

I thought we had none of them in Swedish, until I read Joannes' post. Very informal, but possible:
Den är röd. 'It's red.'
Den är röd, va? 'It's red, innit?'


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## Outsider

Lugubert said:


> I thought we had none of them in Swedish, until I read Joannes' post. Very informal, but possible:
> Den är röd. 'It's red.'
> Den är röd, va? 'It's red, innit?'


Judging from the punctuation you used, would be a tag question, which is not the same.


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## kusurija

Lithuanian:
In Lithuanian the interrogative particle is _ar__. _
Dangus yra mėlynas/žydras (Sky is blue)
Ar dangus yra mėlynas?

Namas (yra) didelis. (House is big)
Ar (tas) namas (yra) didelis?

Gali valgyt. You can eat)
Ar (Tu) gali valgyt?

Susiruošei eiti ar ne? (You are going to go, aren't You?) 
In these cases the interrogaive tag is used *negative*. (..ar ne?)

This _ar_ is necessary, othetwise the sentence may be understood NOT as question in those sentences, where ansver is "yes/no".

Czech: 
Generally, we don't use such words in simple questions, because the q. You may understand from _order_ of words and of sentence _intonation_. In _quoted_ sentences we use in this case words _zda, zdali, ~-li . _Zepal se ho, _zda_ je ten dům veliký. He asked if the house is big. Or: Zepal se ho, je_-li_ ten dům veliký...and so on. So *he* could answer yes/no.


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## J.F. de TROYES

Joannes said:


> Found it.  Apparently *huwwa* 'he', *hijja* 'she' and *humma* 'they' can be used as question markers. As in:
> *huwwa 2inti gaaja 2innakharda* 'Are you coming today?'
> 
> The same source also mentions suffixation of *-sh* (contracted of negative *ma---sh*) as a (less common) way to form yes/no questions.
> *shuftii-sh kitaab 2shshi3r bitaa3i* 'Have you seen my poetry book?'


 
I knew that  هو   was used to ask a question , but I thought it was only possible with this sing. masc. form.
May I change a little your transliteration  , as I suppose you want to write "y"  and "h" instead of  "j" and  "kh" in  "gaaya" جاية      and  "innaharda"   النهارده

       So :          "huwwa (2i)nti gaaya 2innahaard(a)


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## cherine

No, "huwwa" in such a context is invariable to the gender of the persons in question.

And May I add a note to the transliteration:
huwwa (2i)nti gayya (the "a" is short and the y is stressed) 2innahaard(a)
For the last word:
- The "a" is not optional at the end of innaharda
- There's no long vowels in this word
- As we're speaking of Egyptian Arabic, I'd transliterate this whole sentence like this:
howwanti gayyanaharda
I "merged" the words pronounced together to mark the way we'd pronounce it: no glottal stops in the middle of such a sentence/question.


Last note: Generally, we'd just say: enti gayyanahard? with the proper intonation to mark that it's a question not an affirmative sentence.


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## Joannes

J.F. de TROYES said:


> I knew that هو was used to ask a question , but I thought it was only possible with this sing. masc. form.


That's true for the first and second person. When the subject is a masculin third person plural, both *humma* and *huwwa* could be used:

{*humma */ *huwwa*} *sami wi muHamad gayyin bukra*
'Are Sami and Mohammed coming tomorrow?'

If the subject (well, is it still a subject, structurally? ) is a feminine third person plural, either *humma* or *hiyya* is acceptable:

{*humma* / *hiyya*} *muna wi surayya maguush*
'Haven't Mona and Soraya come?'

When the coordinated subjects have different genders, either *humma* or *huwwa* / *hiyya* is used, depending on the gender of the first one mentioned.

*humma muna wi sami maguush*
*hiyya muna wi sami maguush*
*huwwa sami wi muna maguush*

At least, that's what I read (Gary & Gamal-Eldin 1982). 



J.F. de TROYES said:


> May I change a little your transliteration , as I suppose you want to write "y" and "h" instead of "j" and "kh" in "gaaya" جاية and "innaharda" النهارده


Thank you.  The source where I got the example from mainly follows IPA, that's why it was a <j> (I transliterated those with <y> in this post). The <kh> was a misinterpretation of mine , the original text had a <h> with a dot below.


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## J.F. de TROYES

cherine said:


> No, "huwwa" in such a context is invariable to the gender of the persons in question.
> 
> And May I add a note to the transliteration:
> huwwa (2i)nti gayya (the "a" is short and the y is stressed) 2innahaard(a)
> For the last word:
> - The "a" is not optional at the end of innaharda
> - There's no long vowels in this word
> - As we're speaking of Egyptian Arabic, I'd transliterate this whole sentence like this:
> howwanti gayyanaharda
> I "merged" the words pronounced together to mark the way we'd pronounce it: no glottal stops in the middle of such a sentence/question.
> 
> 
> Last note: Generally, we'd just say: enti gayyanahard? with the proper intonation to mark that it's a question not an affirmative sentence.


 
Thanks for your accurate details about pronounciation; I should'nt have made a mistake about "gayya", but I didn't know that the second "a" of "nahar" was short in this phrase.To come back to the point is "huwwa" often used when asking a question? Is it a way to stress it or toattract attention ?


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## J.F. de TROYES

*Quechua*

The suffix *-chu* is added to the most relevant word in the question :

paqarin hamunki*chu *?  will you come to-morrow ?

paqarin*chu *hamunki ? will you come to-morrow ? 
                                          ( or the day after to-morrow....)  =   French : c'est demain que vous viendrez ?

*Swahili*

Either a rising intonation at the end of the sentence, but a little tricky for non natives or starting with *je *, particle/interjection (?) which can also be added to the verb as a suffix.

( je ) , kesho mtakuja ?  Will you come to-morrow ?

*Khmer ( Cambodian ) *

The particle *dtay* is used at the end of the sentence :

loak (masc.) / loak s'ray (fem) moak sa-aik  *dtay*    Will you come....?

( this is a transliteration due to the lack of fonts )

I think the same system - adding a final partcle - is used in chinese and south-eastern Asian languages ( in Lao too : *baw*,close to Thai ), even though they do not belong to the same linguistic families.

*Amharic*

Nothing else but a rising tone at the end of the sentence : 

nege tëmet'alleh (masc.) / tëmet'allesh  (fem.) ? (transliteration)   to-morrow...


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## Outsider

If we count intonation as an "interrogative particle", then most Romance languages, if not all, use it to make questions. Here's an example from Portuguese:


Já comeste.
_You've already eaten._

Já comeste?
_Have you already eaten?_​


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## J.F. de TROYES

J.F. de TROYES said:


> *Thai *
> The same with the particle *ไหม *
> 
> *เขาผร่งนิัมาไหม  kha'o phrûng ni'i maa ma'y ?*
> 
> Will he/she/they come to-morrow?


 
Sorry for the blunder : there's no word before "kha'o" :
"they+ to-morrow+ to come + ma'y "


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## prowlerxpla

In Italian we use "che" but most depends on where you put the enphasys,
che sei stanco? are you tired isn't it?


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## jana.bo99

About sky:

Croatian:

The sky is blue -  Nebo je plavo!!
Is the sky blue?-  Da li je nebo plavo?

Slovenian:
The sky is blue - Nebo je modro!
Is the sky blue?- Ali je nebo modro?

German:       

The sky is blue -  Der Himmel ist blau!
Is the sky blue? - Ist der Himmel blau? Ob der Himmel blau ist?


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## cherine

J.F. de TROYES said:


> To come back to the point is "huwwa" often used when asking a question? Is it a way to stress it or toattract attention ?


Sorry J.F., I have only seen this question now 

Using "howwa" (I should've used the "o" since the begining, we don't pronounce the ضمة so "closed") is more for a stress or attracting attention as you said. Even more of a filler too, specially when the subject is "you".

A question is perfectly correct without it, but sometimes it just sounds better with it.
I don't mean to confuse you, but I just can't tell that it's 100% essential in a question, nor that it's 100% accessory. Only, that you have the choice to use it or to drop it.


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## Qcumber

In Tagalog (Philippines), the interrogative particle is *bá*. It results from the apocope of an older one: *bagá*. I read somewhere that there used to be a dialect of Tagalog where it was the apheresis that took place so that the resulting form was *gá*.

e.g. Are you [sg.]a Filipino?
1) *Pilipíno ká bá?* (colloquial)
[pi li 'pi: no ka 'ba?]
/ Filipino / you / int. / 

2) *Ikáw bá'y Pilipíno?* (classical)
[i kau 'baj pi li 'pi: no] 
/ you / int. / fronter / Filipino / 

*Bá* also occurs in the tag *dî bá?*

3) You are a Filipino, aren't you? 
*Pilipíno ká, dî bá? *(colloquial)
[pi li pi: no 'ka di 'ba]

4) *Ikáw'y Pilipíno, dî bá?* (classical)
[i kauj pi li 'pi: no di 'bá]


This interrogative particle can also be used in wh- questions, although it is generally dropped.

e.g. Where do you [sg] work?
5) *Saán ká bá nagtátrabáho?* (colloquial)
[sa aN ka 'ba nag ta: tra 'ba: ho]
/ where / you / int. / work /

6)* Ikáw bá'y saán nagtátrabáho?* (classical)
[i kau 'baj sa an nag ta: tra 'ba: ho]
/ you / int. / fronter / where / work /

Deleting *bá* doesn't change the meaning.

5) *Saán ká nagtátrabáho?*
[sa aN 'ka nag ta: tra 'ba: ho]

6) *Ikáw'y saán nagtátrabáho?*
[i kaoj sa an nag ta: tra bá ho]


In brief, Tagalog *bá* is quite similar to French *est-ce que*.
It has no equivalent in English.


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## chriskardos

the house is big - a ház nagy
is the house big? nagy a ház?
the sky is blue - az ég kék
is the sky blue? - kék az ég?


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## Mahaodeh

palomnik said:


> I think that most of the answers given so far confuse interrogative particles (Arabic _hal, _Chinese _ma, _Japanese _ka, _etc.) with tag questions (French _n'est-ce pas, _German _nicht wahr, _etc). I don't think that these two categories are much alike, either from a structural point of view or in the sense that they impart to a sentence.


 
Excuse my ignorance, but could you give an example of the difference in English?


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## Consimmer

For Malay,

the house is big - _rumah itu besar_
is the house big? - _besarkah rumah itu? _or _rumah itu besarkah?_
the sky is blue - _langit biru_
is the sky blue? - _birukah langit? _or _langit birukah?_


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## Qcumber

It's obvious Malay as an interrogative particle, *kah*, that is the cognate of Tagalog *bagá > bá*.


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## Kangy

Spanish doesn't have such auxiliaries.
You can turn a sentence into a question without any alteration but in intonation.

Mi papá tiene un auto rojo = My dad has a red car
¿Mi papá tiene un auto rojo? = Does my dad have a red car?


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