You’re right that 么 is another variation. Different particles can be used to soften speech, especially when used on the street. They are hard to define straight into English, so the best way is to keep observing examples. With time, you’ll find yourself using these particles in your own speech, without really knowing why - just because it “sounds right!”

加油！

Thanks a lot for the good examples, too!
I already understood the meaning and usage of the 呢 in sentences like 你呢？and 这个裤子呢？
But I haven’t thought about sentences like
Nà nǐ wèi shénme bù dǎ wǎngqiú ne? / 那你为什么不打网球呢？
With that example, some “aha experience” arrived in my brain! That was a really good one!!

I’m not sure, that I fully understood the 呢 already. A chinese friend of mine uses it REALLY often, but now I will take more attention if there isn’t some “…what about…” context in it

By the way, she also uses A LOT of 么 instead of 吗 at the END of a question. I have the feeling, that 么 is just some variation used on the streets (sounds nearly equally anyway) and does not differ in any way from 吗 when used at the end of the question. Am I right?

Thanks a lot for your answer and your podcast!
Please keep it up, I enjoy it every day!
史斯文

Great question. I find that looking at lots of examples gives me a better feel for such words. A good place for such examples is our own word bank. A search of 呢 currently reveals 18 entries. I have listed some below.

呢 is used in places where there is information required in addition to what is already known. For example:

Nǐ ne? / 你呢？ (I have told you my part), what about you?
Zhège kùzi ne? / 这个裤子呢？ (I know you don’t like the shirt), what about these pants?

Nà nǐ wèi shénme bù dǎ wǎngqiú ne? / 那你为什么不打网球呢？
(I know you don’t like basketball but) why don’t you like tennis?

Bǐrú shuō ne? / 比如说呢? (With respect to our current situation), can you give me an example?

Take a look at the other examples in the word bank and see if that helps. If not, please let me know.

I’m using CLO for about a year now, but I’m new to the club with respect to being a premium subscriber now! Thanks to the whole CLO team for that great podcast! I enjoy it very much.

I have a question which I fear is not easy to answer.
I already asked several persons and try to consult some grammar books, but I still don’t get the right understanding nor feeling for the question particle ne (呢) vs. the ma (吗).

Perhaps you have a good explanation why sometimes 呢 is used instead of 吗?
I hope, there more to it but just “you can use both”

Xie xie ni men,
史斯文

I’m glad you wrote. The initial jump between levels is usually high and takes some getting used to. However you will find that we maintain that pace for most of the level, allowing you time to get used to it. From level 3 on, the complete transcripts are also more comprehensive, allowing you to follow along and easily look up words you hear that you don’t understand.

Each lesson still only teaches a few new words, but more effort is put into reusing old vocabulary, which is of course important when learning any language. Try out the sample premium materials (vocabulary, complete and podcast reviews) for the first few lessons in level 3 and tell me if they help.

The da3 refers to using your hand to do something (in this case the motion of greeting someone with a wave), the zhao1 refers to beckoning or calling someone, while the hu1 refers to calling out aloud.

Could you explain what the different characters in da3 zhao1 hu1 mean?