<p>你要买点儿什么?——>What do you want (to buy) ?</p>

<p>你要买点儿什么吗?——>Do you want (to buy) sth.? </p>

<p>And a seller usually use the 1st statement because they want to let you believe that you have decided to buy sth. ,just don't know what to buy,so they can sell more goods per day.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-16T10:59:29.763Z
2015-12-16T10:59:29.763Z
user12314
<p>You can combine 什么 and 吗. But as others stated, 你要买点什么 and 你要买点什么吗 are different. </p>

<p>The word 什么 in 你要买点什么 means "what" and forms the question.</p>

<p>While in 你要买点什么吗, 什么 means "anything, whatever" and is NOT part of the question structure. Other example of this use 你说什么都好 anything/whatever you say is ok.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-16T11:29:26.587Z
2015-12-16T11:29:26.587Z
jf328
<p>点 and 儿 are separate words. The first one means 'something' and the 2nd one is just a commonly attached word that helps the pronunciation, pronounced as 'er'. The two combined is asking "do you want to buy anything". 吗 refers to the questioning tone, in which it is pronounced as 'ma'. It is totally ok for you not to add it to your sentence.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-12T16:14:38.747Z
Thanks for your answer but I'd like to make sure once again. Do you mean that 你要买点儿什么? is a kind of yes-no question(if we insist on classifying the sentence) and not really asking what to buy even though 什么 is used? And if we take out the 点儿, does the meaning (of 你要买什么?) turn into "WHAT do you want to buy?"
Jin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-14T02:04:18.570Z
it will be the same if you take out the 点儿. It is what do you want to buy.
BearAqua
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-12T15:56:57.120Z
2015-12-12T15:56:57.120Z
BearAqua
<p>I already learned that Chinese wh- questions don't require a 吗 particle but I got stuck on this sentence: 你要买点儿什么？</p>

<p>Which does the sentence mean, "what will you buy?" or "will you buy something/anything?"</p>

<p>The 点儿 confuses me a bit. That's why I'm not sure if the question 你要买点儿什么？ is asking whether or not to buy or what to buy.</p>

<p>Also if I add a 吗 to the end of the sentence, thus 你要买点儿什么吗？, what will it mean?</p>

<p>Thanks for your help in advance!</p>

<translation><grammar>
What does 你要买点儿什么？ mean exactly? (吗 question vs. Wh- question)
# What does 你要买点儿什么？ mean exactly? (吗 question vs. Wh- question)

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-12-12)

I already learned that Chinese wh- questions don't require a 吗 particle but I got stuck on this sentence: 你要买点儿什么？

Which does the sentence mean, "what will you buy?" or "will you buy something/anything?"

The 点儿 confuses me a bit. That's why I'm not sure if the question 你要买点儿什么？ is asking whether or not to buy or what to buy.

Also if I add a 吗 to the end of the sentence, thus 你要买点儿什么吗？, what will it mean?

Thanks for your help in advance!

**Tags:** translation, grammar

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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-12-16. Score: 1

你要买点儿什么?——>What do you want (to buy) ?

你要买点儿什么吗?——>Do you want (to buy) sth.?

And a seller usually use the 1st statement because they want to let you believe that you have decided to buy sth. ,just don't know what to buy,so they can sell more goods per day.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2015-12-16. Score: 0

You can combine 什么 and 吗. But as others stated, 你要买点什么 and 你要买点什么吗 are different.

The word 什么 in 你要买点什么 means "what" and forms the question.

While in 你要买点什么吗, 什么 means "anything, whatever" and is NOT part of the question structure. Other example of this use 你说什么都好 anything/whatever you say is ok.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2015-12-12. Score: 0

点 and 儿 are separate words. The first one means 'something' and the 2nd one is just a commonly attached word that helps the pronunciation, pronounced as 'er'. The two combined is asking "do you want to buy anything". 吗 refers to the questioning tone, in which it is pronounced as 'ma'. It is totally ok for you not to add it to your sentence.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for your answer but I'd like to make sure once again. Do you mean that 你要买点儿什么? is a kind of yes-no question(if we insist on classifying the sentence) and not really asking what to buy even though 什么 is used? And if we take out the 点儿, does the meaning (of 你要买什么?) turn into "WHAT do you want to buy?"  
> **username_3**: it will be the same if you take out the 点儿. It is what do you want to buy.  

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