How To Ask Questions (Past Tense)

Did She Cook Last Night? | Questions, Answers & Negation (Past Tense Practice)

In this lesson, you will learn how to ask, answer, and make negative sentences in Chinese using the past tense example: “Did she cook last night?” This is a great way to practice real conversation patterns in Mandarin.

🟢 1. Asking the Question (Past Tense)
✔ Using 吗 (ma)
她昨天晚上做饭了吗？(Tā zuótiān wǎnshang zuò fàn le ma?) — Did she cook last night?

👉 Structure:

Statement + 了吗 (le ma) = yes/no question about past action
✔ Using A-not-A Structure
她昨天晚上做没做饭？(Tā zuótiān wǎnshang zuò méi zuò fàn?) — Did she cook last night?

🟡 2. Answering the Question
✔ Positive Answers:
她做饭了。(Tā zuò fàn le.) — She cooked.
做了。(Zuò le.) — She did cook.
🔴 3. Negative Answers (Negation)
她没做饭。(Tā méi zuò fàn.) — She didn’t cook.
没做。(Méi zuò.) — Didn’t cook.