---
title: "难道…吗 in Chinese Grammar: Surely not …? (rhetorical: …), With Examples"
description: "难道…吗: surely not …? (rhetorical: …). 难道…吗 is a rhetorical question expecting the opposite answer. 3 real lines from stories, each word explained."
canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/nandao-ma"
author: "Mandarin The Wild"
---

[Chinese grammar](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar)

# 难道…吗

Surely not …? (rhetorical: …)

难道…吗 is a rhetorical question expecting the opposite answer.

## In stories

光是常用字就有三千五百个，**难道要造一个三千五百个键的键盘吗**？

[汉字没有字母，中国人怎么打字？ · How do Chinese people type without an alphabet?](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/how-do-chinese-people-type-without-an-alphabet#library-word-48-64) HSK 6

这**难道不是画蛇添足吗**？

[中文为什么要用量词？ · Why does Chinese have measure words?](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/why-does-chinese-have-measure-words#library-word-122-131) HSK 6

然而有一天，他坐在热闹的猴子们中间，忽然想到了一件事，心里不由得担心起来：再快乐的日子，**难道能一直过下去吗**？

[美猴王 · The Handsome Monkey King](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/monkey-king-born-journey-to-the-west-intermediate-chinese-1#library-word-996-1005) HSK 5

[Read 汉字没有字母，中国人怎么打字？](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/how-do-chinese-people-type-without-an-alphabet#library-word-48-64)

## More patterns

- [不是…吗 (rhetorical) isn’t it (the case) that …? — often rhetorical (surprise or objection)](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/bushi-ma)
- [难怪 no wonder](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/nanguai)
- [把 + object + verb do something to … (and it ends up changed)](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/ba)
- [verb (+ 了) + duration (for how long) for … (how long … lasts)](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/duration)
- [verb + 得 + complement says how something is done (how well, how much, with what result)](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/v-de-c)
- […的时候 when …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/de-shihou)

## What does 难道…吗 mean in Chinese?

Surely not …? (rhetorical: …). 难道…吗 is a rhetorical question expecting the opposite answer.

## How common is 难道…吗?

It comes up in 3 readings of the 392 stories and articles in our free Library.

## Does it correct my mistakes?

No. It shows which patterns a text uses and what each one does; it doesn’t mark errors. Paste a sentence you wrote to see whether it uses the pattern you meant.

## More free tools

- [Chinese dictionary](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-dictionary)
- [Measure words](https://mandarinthewild.com/measure-words)
- [How hard is this text?](https://mandarinthewild.com/text-level)
- [Free Chinese stories](https://mandarinthewild.com/library)

Patterns found by our own parser; lines from our free Library.