Rhetorical Questions with 谁, 什么, 哪儿 and 怎么
Use question words to make strong statements, like 谁不想去？ “Who wouldn’t want to go?” and 我哪儿知道？ “How would I know?”
Structure
谁/什么/哪儿/怎么 + question with no answer expected (often ending in 呢)
A rhetorical question flips the meaning: 谁知道？ = nobody knows, 谁不知道？ = everybody knows.
谁不想去旅游呢？
When to use Rhetorical Questions with 谁, 什么, 哪儿 and 怎么
A question with 谁, 什么, 哪儿 or 怎么 can be a strong statement instead of a real question. The meaning flips: a positive question means “nobody / nothing / not at all”, and a negative one means “everybody / of course”. So 谁知道？ means “nobody knows”, while 谁不想去？ means “everyone wants to go”. The question word stays where it would be in a normal question, and 呢 at the end often adds feeling.
我怎么知道他去哪儿了？
How would I know where he went? (= I have no idea)
我哪儿有那么多钱？
Where would I get that much money? (= I don’t have it)
谁说我不会做饭？
Who says I can’t cook? (= I can)
你急什么？时间还早呢。
What’s the rush? It’s still early. (= don’t hurry)
Pièges courants
- For “no need to…”, put 什么 after the verb: 你哭什么？, not 你什么哭？.
- For “how could you…”, say 怎么能 + verb: 你怎么能不告诉我？, not 你怎么不能告诉我？ (that asks why you’re unable to).
- When the question word carries the question, don’t add 吗: 谁知道？, not 谁知道吗？.
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