fǎn wèn
ask in reply; answer a question with a question
你难道不知道吗？
nǐ dàonào bù zhīdào ma?
Don't you know?
你以为我不知道吗？
nǐ yǐwéi wǒ bù zhīdào ma?
Do you think I don't know?
你难道不觉得奇怪吗？
nǐ dàonào bù juédé qíguài ma?
Don't you think it's strange?
反诘 (fǎn jié)
rhetorical question
反话 (fǎn huà)
sarcasm
直问 (zhí wèn)
direct question
正问 (zhèng wèn)
positive question
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The Chinese character 反 (fǎn) means "against", "opposite", or "reverse". It is often used as a prefix to indicate the opposite of something. For example, the word 反对 (fǎnduì) means "to oppose". The character 问 (wèn) means "to ask" or "to question". When these two characters are combined, they form the word 反问 (fǎnwèn), which means "to ask a rhetorical question". A rhetorical question is a question that is not asked in order to get an answer, but rather to make a point or to emphasize something. For example, the sentence "难道你不觉得吗？" (Nǎndào nǐ bù juédé ma?) is a rhetorical question that means "Don't you think so?" The speaker of this sentence is not actually asking the listener if they think so or not. They are simply using the question to emphasize their point.
