Interrogative Mood - Alternatives To The Interrogative Mood

Alternatives To The Interrogative Mood

Very few languages have an interrogative mood. For most languages, there is no special question-asking mood. Many languages employ one of the following syntactic methods to change an ordinary sentence (declarative statement) into a question:

• Adding a particle to the beginning or end of a sentence, such as the Japanese particle か ka and the Mandarin particle 吗/嗎 ma.

  彼は日本人です Kare wa Nihon-jin desu; "He is Japanese."

  → 彼は日本人ですか？ Kare wa Nihon-jin desu ka?; "Is he Japanese?"

  他是中国人 (Chinese: 他是中國人; pinyin: Tā shì Zhōngguórén) "He is Chinese ."

  → 他是中国人吗？ (Chinese: 他是中國人嗎？; pinyin: Tā shì Zhōngguórén ma?) "Is he Chinese?"

• In Indonesian and Malay, the particle -kah is appended as a suffix either to the last word of a sentence or to the word/phrase that needs confirmation (and also bringing that word/phrase to the beginning of the sentence). In more formal situations, the question word apakah (which is formed by appending -kah particle to apa; "what") is frequently used.

  Kita tersesat lagi. "We are lost again."

  → Kita tersesat lagikah? "Are we lost again?"

  Jawaban saya benar. "My answer is correct."

  → Benarkah jawaban saya? "Is my answer correct?"

  Presiden sudah menerima surat itu. "The president has received the letter."

  → Apakah presiden sudah menerima surat itu? "Has the president received the letter?"

• Adding a generic ending to the end of a word, such as in Latin where -ne is added to the end of the first word of the interrogation:

  Tu es puer. "You are a boy."

  → Tune es puer? "Are you a boy?"

• Changing word order. In some Romance languages, such as French, one also asks a question by switching the verb with the subject (SVO → VSO). The switched subject can later result in grammatically interrogative endings generating an interrogative mood as in most varieties of Venetian — e.g. Old Venetian vu magnè → magnè-vu? → Modern Venetian magneto/magnèu?, now used also with overt subjects; Voaltri magnèo co mi? (literally "You eat-you with me?").
• English similarly changes word order from SVO to VSO ("You are sure" becomes, "Are you sure?"). Very often, the auxiliary verb "do" is inserted, undergoing the change in word order in the place of the main verb ("You have brown hair" becomes, "Do you have brown hair?"). This latter form became quite common in English in the late 16th century.
• Spoken Welsh changes the primary auxiliary verb bod — e.g. Rwyt ti'n bwyta "You are eating" → Wyt ti'n bwyta? "Are you eating?"
• In Turkish, the interrogative preposition "mı" (also "mi", "mu", "mü" according to the last vowel of the word) is added. Other personal or verbal suffixes are also added to the suitable preposition.

  Geliyorum. "I am coming."

  → Geliyor muyum? "Am I coming?"

  Geliyordum. "I was coming."

  → Geliyor muydum? "Was I coming?"

  Geldim. "I came."

  → Geldim mi? "Did I come?"

  Evlisin. "You are married."

  → Evli misin? "Are you married?"

• Offering the listener an explicit yes/no alternative, such as in colloquial Indonesian and Mandarin:

  Kamu datang ke Indonesia. "You come to Indonesia."

  → Kamu datang ke Indonesia, tidak? "Do you come to Indonesia?"

  Dia orang Indonesia. "He/She is Indonesian."

  → Dia orang Indonesia, bukan? "Is he/she Indonesian?"

  Mereka sudah belajar bahasa Indonesia. "They have learnt Indonesian."

  → Mereka sudah belajar bahasa Indonesia, belum? "Have they learnt Indonesian?"

  他是中国人 (Chinese: 他是中國人; pinyin: Tā shì Zhōngguórén) "He is Chinese."

  → 他是不是中国人？ (Chinese: 他是不是中國人？; pinyin: Tā shì bu shì Zhōngguórén?; literally "He is/isn't Chinese?") "Is he Chinese?"

• Using a different intonation. English usually ends questions with a rising tone. In some Romance languages, such as Italian, some interrogative sentences are distinguished from declarative sentences only through intonation.

Languages that use a special mood of the verb to mark questions may also employ one or more of the preceding methods. For example, a language could always use the interrogative mood to ask a question, but it could also offer the listener a choice if a certain answer is desired.