"你知道新校长是谁吗?"
Translation:Do you know who the new principal is?
November 23, 2017
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This discussion is locked.
Riven333
617
Why is “吗” required here? “谁” is a question word so I thought it would be redundant to include 吗.
NikolaiYourin
1419
This is how subordinate clauses are formed in Chinese:
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新校长是谁?- Who is the new principal? (a simple question; note how this whole chunk will remain unchanged in the following sentences)
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你知道新校长是谁。- You do know who the new principal is. (a declarative sentence - we need 吗 to turn it into a question)
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你知道新校长是谁吗?- Do you know who the new principal is?
In a subordinate clause, 谁 loses its function as a question word and becomes a conjunction.
StephanusG1
1352
In a subordinate clause the verb follows the subjects. The question inversion is in the first part of the sentence (do you know).