Basic/Simple Sentence PatternsHSK 4
Expressing "some" with question words
Question words like 哪儿, 谁, 什么, and 什么时候 can be used in statements to express indefinite meanings (somewhere, someone, something, sometime). They are placed in the sentence just like normal question words, but the sentence is a statement, not a question. Be careful not to add 吗 at the end, which would turn it into a yes/no question.
Structure
Subj. + 在哪儿 + Verb + …
哪儿 means 'somewhere'
Subj. + Verb + 谁 + …
谁 means 'someone'
Subj. + Verb + 点儿 + 什么
什么 means 'something'
什么时候 + Statement
什么时候 means 'sometime'
Examples
- 这个人我在哪儿见过。Zhège rén wǒ zài nǎr jiàn guo.I've met this person somewhere before.
- 你让谁来帮我一下。Nǐ ràng shéi lái bāng wǒ yīxià.Ask someone to help me with this.
- 我们应该做点儿什么。Wǒmen yīnggāi zuò diǎnr shénme .We should do something.
- 什么时候我们见面谈吧。Shénme shíhou wǒmen jiànmiàn tán ba.Let's meet and talk about this sometime.