HOW TO Use 吧 | 12 Usages of Ba (Grammar Explained)

Q: What is 吧?

吧 is one of the most common sentence particles in Chinese. It is placed at the end of sentences, to either indicate what you’re saying is a suggestion and by no mean a command, or simply to soften your speech, or to concede.

Q: How to use 吧?

Some sentence structures with 吧: Command + 吧 Statement + 吧 Sentence + 吧 + ? It is also used in question tags: Sentence + 是吧/好吧/对吧/行吧/ 可以吧?

Q: How is 吧 pronounced?

吧 is pronounced ‘ ba ‘ and doesn’t have a tone.

Q: What are some examples with 吧?

Q: Do you have other articles like this one?

Yes we do! You can have a look at our Chinese Grammar Bank for more articles like this one. A few examples of what you’ll find: How to use 不 in Chinese – The Chinese Negative Form How to use 的 in Chinese – The Possessive Particle How to use 还是 and 或者 – ‘Or’ in Chinese How to use 不 and 没 – The differences between the two negation words

Home HSK 1 Using 吧 to indicate suggestion

HOW TO USE 吧?

Using “吧” is an easy way to avoid placing the listener in an uncomfortable situation.

The particle “吧” is placed at the end of sentences, to either indicate what you’re saying is a suggestion and by no means a command, or simply to soften your speech, or to concede.

吧 FOR SUGGESTIONS, REQUESTS & INSTRUCTIONS

“吧” at the end of imperative sentences is to soften your suggestion, request or instruction. This makes the speaker seem less direct and bossy.

PATTERN

Command + 吧

SUGGESTIONS

This use of 吧 is very similar to how in English we would use “let’s”.

^{zánmen qù chīfàn ba.}

咱们去吃饭吧。

_{Let’s go to dinner.}

^{wǒmen zǒu ba.}

我们走吧。

_{Let’s go.}

^{bāng bāng wǒ ba.}

帮帮我吧。

_{Help me, would you.}

REQUESTS

^{gěi wǒ liǎng gè ba.}

给我两个吧。

_{Give me two.}

^{tiān tài wǎnle, wǒmen míngtiān zài qù pǎobù ba.}

天太晚了，我们明天再去跑步吧。

_{It’s too late, let’s go for a run tomorrow.}

INSTRUCTIONS

^{nǐ qù ba.}

你去吧。

_{You go ahead.}

^{nǐ zài zhè’er dàizhuó ba, wǒ qùjiù hǎo.}

你在这儿待着吧，我去就好。

_{Just stay here, I’ll be fine.}

吧 FOR SOFTENING SPEECH

The particle “吧” is also used to soften the feel of a sentence. This is particularly useful when you need to make your sentence more polite, gentler or less forceful.

PATTERN

Statement + 吧

^{kuài diǎn ba.}

快点吧。

_{Hurry up.}

^{tài guìle ba, wǒ bú mǎile.}

太贵了吧，我不买了。

_{It’s too expensive, I’m not buying that}

^{suànle ba.}

算了吧。

_{Forget it.}

吧 FOR AGREEMENT & APPROVAL

“吧” can be used to show that you accept or agree to something. You may not actually want to accept or agree to it, but for some reason you make a compromise.

PATTERN

Statement + 吧

^{xíng ba, wǒ dāyìng nǐ.}

行吧，我答应你。

_{Okay, I promise you}

^{nǐ xiǎng qùjiù qù ba.}

你想去就去吧。

_{If you want to go, then go.}

吧 FOR ESTIMATION & SUPPOSITION

“吧” (ba) can be used at the end of declarative sentences to make the tone uncertain. The tone would be affirmative when “吧” is dropped.

^{zhème wǎnle, yěxǔ tā bù láile ba.}

这么晚了，也许他不来了吧。

_{It’s so late, maybe he won’t come.}

^{míngtiān tā jiù zǒule ba.}

明天他就走了吧。

_{He will leave tomorrow.}

View More Phrases

就这样做吧，没有其它更好地办法了。
jiù zhèyàng zuò ba, méiyǒu qítā gèng hǎo de bànfǎle.
Just do it, there is no better way.

好吧，现在去吃饭。
hǎo ba, xiànzài qù chīfàn.
Okay, I’ll go to dinner now.
(You would’ve liked to finish what you were doing first but ok, you’ll go eat).

“吧” (ba) can also be put at the end of questions to ask for consent or confirmation with what is being, indicating both questioning and guessing, when the speaker has a certain estimation about something but he is not sure.

PATTERN

Sentence + 吧 ?

^{wǒ hái méi gàosù nǐ kāihuì de shíjiān ba?}

我还没告诉你开会的时间吧？

_{I haven’t told you the time of the meeting yet?}

^{nǐ shì wáng āyí ba?}

你是王阿姨吧？

_{Are you Aunt Wang?}

View More Phrases

这是你儿子吧? 不是,是我哥哥的孩子。
zhè shì nǐ érzi ba? Bùshì, shì wǒ gēgē de háizi.
Is this your son? No, it’s my brother’s child.

这些问题不难吧? 有点儿难
zhèxiē wèntí bù nán ba? Yǒudiǎn er nán
These questions are not difficult, right? A bit difficult

NOTE || Sometimes, “吧” (ba) in a question usually shows that you’re expecting a positive answer.

吧 IN TAG QUESTIONS

“吧” can be used to form question tags, asking for consent, permission or confirmation.

The common expressions include “是吧 (shì ba)”, “好吧 (hǎo ba)”, “对吧 (duì ba)”, “行吧 (xíng ba)”, “可以吧 (kěyǐ ba)”, etc.

PATTERN

Sentence + 是吧 / 好吧 / 对吧 / 行吧 / 可以吧?

^{nǐ láizì měiguó, duì ba?}

你来自美国，对吧？

_{You are from the United States, right?}

^{nǐ míngtiān lái, hǎo ba?}

你明天来，好吧？

_{You come tomorrow, okay?}

^{wǒ yòng xià nǐ de bǐ, kěyǐ ba?}

我用下你的笔，可以吧？

_{I use your pen, okay?}

吧 IN THE MIDDLE OF SENTENCES

Sometimes 吧 can be placed in the middle of a sentence to make a pause, indicating assumption or citing or concession.

ASSUMPTION

这件事我跟她说吧，不好；不跟她说吧，也不好。
zhè jiàn shì wǒ gēn tā shuō ba, bù hǎo; bù gēn tā shuō ba, yě bù hǎo.
I’ll tell her about this, it’s not good; not telling her, it’s not good either.

CITING

就拿我自己说吧，我也是一步一步才走到今天的。
jiù ná wǒ zìjǐ shuō ba, wǒ yěshì yībù yībù cái zǒu dào jīntiān de.
Let me just say it, I also got here step by step.

CONCESSION

就算你有理吧，也不能随便打人呀。
jiùsuàn nǐ yǒulǐ ba, yě bùnéng suíbiàn dǎ rén ya.
Even if you are reasonable, you can’t hit people casually.

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FAQS

What is 吧?

吧 is one of the most common sentence particles in Chinese.

It is placed at the end of sentences, to either indicate what you’re saying is a suggestion and by no mean a command, or simply to soften your speech, or to concede.

How to use 吧?

Some sentence structures with 吧:

Command + 吧

Statement + 吧

Sentence + 吧 + ?

It is also used in question tags:

Sentence + 是吧/好吧/对吧/行吧/ 可以吧?

How is 吧 pronounced?

吧 is pronounced ‘ba‘ and doesn’t have a tone.

What are some examples with 吧?

我们走吧。wǒmen zǒu ba. | Let’s go.

给我两个吧。gěi wǒ liǎng gè ba. | Give me two.

算了吧。suànle ba. | Forget it.

行吧，我答应你。 xíng ba, wǒ dāyìng nǐ. | Okay, I promise you.

你是王阿姨吧？ nǐ shì wáng āyí ba? | Are you Aunt Wang?

What some other particles should I learn?

One of the most basic yet important Chinese particle to learn at the beginning of your studies is the particle of possession: 的 de.

You will see it in a lot of sentences, which make sense since its THE most common character of the Chinese language!

Do you have other articles like this one?

Yes we do!

You can have a look at our Chinese Grammar Bank for more articles like this one.

A few examples of what you’ll find:

How to use 不 in Chinese – The Chinese Negative Form

How to use 的 in Chinese – The Possessive Particle

How to use 还是 and 或者 – ‘Or’ in Chinese

How to use 不 and 没 – The differences between the two negation words

Chinese Grammar Bank

HOW TO USE 吧?