<p>Normally there’s no stress at all.</p>
<p>However you could apply stress when you want to bring attention to certain aspect of the question.</p>
<p>那张三呢，<strong>他</strong> 最喜欢谁？Perhaps multiple people show up in the conversation, and you’re specifically interested about 张三 in this context.</p>
<p>我知道他喜欢很多人，但他 <strong>最</strong> 喜欢谁呢？This time the guy likes multiple people, and you’re interested about who he likes most.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-05T10:24:25.217Z
2021-12-05T10:24:25.217Z
hackape
<p>他最喜欢谁？
他最喜欢<strong>小明</strong>。</p>
<p>每个人买了什么？
每个人买了<strong>菜</strong>。</p>
<p>Do correct me if I'm wrong, but I learnt that the main stress of the sentence when you're answering a question is on the part that is actually the answer. So the bolded words above are the parts of the sentence that are phonetically stressed because it is the actual answer of the question.</p>
<p>My question is whether that there is any main phonetic stress in the questions themselves. Would the stress be on the question word itself since it is the part that is actually asking?</p>
<p>他最喜欢<strong>谁</strong>？
他最喜欢<strong>小明</strong>。</p>
<p>每个人买了<strong>什么</strong>？
每个人买了<strong>菜</strong>。</p>
<p>Or is it possible for other parts of the sentence to be stressed instead?
<strong>他</strong>最喜欢谁？
他<strong>最</strong>喜欢谁？
<strong>每个人</strong>买了什么？
每个人<strong>买</strong>了什么？</p>
<p>Or is there no stress in the sentence at all? Just 他最喜欢谁? 每个人买了什么？</p>

<pronunciation>
Is there phonetic stress in questions？
# Is there phonetic stress in questions？

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-12-05)

他最喜欢谁？
他最喜欢**小明**。

每个人买了什么？
每个人买了**菜**。

Do correct me if I'm wrong, but I learnt that the main stress of the sentence when you're answering a question is on the part that is actually the answer. So the bolded words above are the parts of the sentence that are phonetically stressed because it is the actual answer of the question.

My question is whether that there is any main phonetic stress in the questions themselves. Would the stress be on the question word itself since it is the part that is actually asking?

他最喜欢**谁**？
他最喜欢**小明**。

每个人买了**什么**？
每个人买了**菜**。

Or is it possible for other parts of the sentence to be stressed instead?
**他**最喜欢谁？
他**最**喜欢谁？
**每个人**买了什么？
每个人**买**了什么？

Or is there no stress in the sentence at all? Just 他最喜欢谁? 每个人买了什么？

**Tags:** pronunciation

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-12-05. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

Normally there’s no stress at all.

However you could apply stress when you want to bring attention to certain aspect of the question.

那张三呢，**他** 最喜欢谁？Perhaps multiple people show up in the conversation, and you’re specifically interested about 张三 in this context.

我知道他喜欢很多人，但他 **最** 喜欢谁呢？This time the guy likes multiple people, and you’re interested about who he likes most.


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