kěyǐ yòng kèfúdiànhuà bànlǐ yínhángkǎ guàshī ma?

Can I use the customer-service number to report the bank card as lost?

Breakdown of kěyǐ yòng kèfúdiànhuà bànlǐ yínhángkǎ guàshī ma?

• 吗ma: question particle
• 可以kěyǐ: can
• 用yòng: to use
• 银行卡yínhángkǎ: bank card

Questions & Answers about kěyǐ yòng kèfúdiànhuà bànlǐ yínhángkǎ guàshī ma?

Why is the sentence structured as 可以 + 用客服电话 + 办理 + 银行卡挂失 + 吗?

A very common Chinese pattern is:

modal verb + method/tool + main verb + object + question particle

So here:

• 可以 = can / may / is it possible to
• 用客服电话 = by using the customer service phone line
• 办理 = handle / process
• 银行卡挂失 = reporting a bank card as lost
• 吗 = turns the sentence into a yes-no question

So the structure is very natural in Mandarin: Can [someone] use the customer service phone line to handle a bank card loss report?

What does 可以 mean here?

Here, 可以 means can, may, or is it possible to.

It does not only mean permission. In this sentence, it mainly asks about possibility or available method:

• 可以吗？ = Is it possible?
• 可以用客服电话办理……吗？ = Is it possible to do this through the customer service phone line?

So it is similar to English Can you do this...?

Why is there no subject like 我 or 你 in the sentence?