ma means??
吗 doesnt have a word equal in English. But a good way to know its meaning, is that it makes any phrase you state a question. When you say a sentence and you end the sentence with 吗 it makes it a Yes/No question. It is usually the first question word someone learns in Chinese. I hope that helps.
-Cody
Like CodeRed82 said, ma 吗 is something that English doesn’t have. In Chinese, we use it to change a statement to a question. I’ll write out some simple sentences to show what I mean. The numbers next to the words are the tones. It’s a bit tricky to type the letter with the tone markers.
Ni3 hao3.
你好。
Hello.
Ni3 hao3 ma?
你好吗？
How are you？
Ni3 hai2 you3.
你还有。
You still have.
Ni3 hai2 you3 ma?
你还有吗？
Do you still have?
Later on you’ll see more characters that work this way. When you add them to other words or to sentences they can change the whole meaning of the sentence.