use 吗 to ask “yes or no” questions
这书是你的吗？
Is this your book?
grammar
terms
Terms about Chinese grammar
字 characters
Chinese characters do have meanings like English words do.
grammar of putonghua
普通话的语法是「以典范的现代白话文著作为语法规范」。
future tense
There are no tenses in Chinese.
Chinese does not use the forms of a verb to indicate the time of the action or state expressed by the verb.
past tense
我吃了饭。
I (have) had my meal.