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An interrogative word or question word is a function word used to ask a question, such as what, ... Such particles contrast with other interrogative words, ...
Enclitic interrogative particles, typically placed after the first (stressed) element of the sentence, which is generally the element to which the question most strongly relates, include the Russian ли li, and the Latin nē (sometimes just n in early Latin). For example: [2] Tu id veritus es. ("You feared that.") Tu nē id veritus es?
There is significant overlap between the English interrogative words and the English relative words, but the relative words that and while are not interrogative words, [c] and, in Standard English, what and how are mostly excluded from the relative words. [1]: 1053 Most or all of the archaic interrogative words are also relative words. [1]: 1046
As such, sentence-final particles in this sense often perform an interpersonal function, rather than a grammatical one. Nevertheless, there are cases in which sentence-final particles do perform grammatical functions, such as Mandarin ma 嗎/吗, the "question particle," which changes the grammatical mood of a sentence to interrogative.
In modern grammar, a particle is a function word that must be associated with another word or phrase to impart meaning, i.e., it does not have its own lexical definition. [citation needed] According to this definition, particles are a separate part of speech and are distinct from other classes of function words, such as articles, prepositions, conjunctions and adverbs.
An interrogative sentence asks a question and hence ends with a question mark. In speech, it almost universally ends in a rising inflection. Its effort is to try to gather information that is presently unknown to the interrogator, or to seek validation for a preconceived notion held.
Other examples of negating particles preceding the verb phrase include Italian non, Russian не nye and Polish nie (they can also be found in constructed languages: ne in Esperanto and non in Interlingua). In some other languages the negating particle follows the verb or verb phrase, as in Dutch: (6) a. Ik zie hem (affirmative) "I see him" b.
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