In language learning, questioning is very important. This allows you to acquire new vocabulary, understand the person you are talking to, and improve your overall sentence construction.

You can learn Chinese in a fun way with the help of this article. If you find learning how to say “what” in Chinese interesting and want to explore the Chinese language more, check out this blog post on how to ask “how are you” in Chinese.

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“What” in Chinese

“What” in Chinese can be written in two ways—in traditional Chinese term 甚麼 or in a simplified manner 什么.The pinyin for “what” in Mandarin Chinese is shén me.

The Chinese word for “what” is made up of two characters: 甚麼 / 什么. The first character, 甚 / 什 or shén, is an independent word that can either mean “what” or “why,” depending on the characters used beside it. The second character, 麼 / 么 or me, depends on the other characters.

You can also use these Chinese words in constructing simple statements or phrases. For instance, 沒甚麼 / 没什么 or méi shénme means “it doesn’t matter.”

In the English sentence, “what” is placed before Demonstrative Pronouns (this, that, these, those) or Subject Pronouns (I, We, He, She, They), such as “What is this?” However, in the Chinese language, the word什么 is often placed after Demonstrative or Subject Pronouns like 这是什么? or zhè shì shénme? Translates to “This is what?”

“What” in Chinese With Different Pronouns

Here are some general sentence examples using Shén me.

什么 As Interrogative Pronoun

“What” in Chinese becomes a Subject Interrogative Pronoun when used in a sentence without Demonstrative or Personal Pronouns.

Examples of how to use 什么 as a Subject Interrogative Pronoun:

• 什么意思？(shén me yì si?) – What is the meaning?
• 什么事？(shén me shì?) – What is the matter?
• 什么是对？(shén me shì duì?) – What is correct?
• 什么是真？(shén me shì zhēn?) – What is real?
• 发生了什么事情？(fā shēng le shén me shì qing?) – What happened?
• 现在是什么状况/情况？(xiàn zài shì shén me zhuàng kuàng/qíng kuàng?) – What is the situation now?
• 什么问题？有什么问题？(shén me wèn tí? yǒu, shé me wèn tí?) – What is the problem?

什么 With Subject Pronoun

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If you construct a sentence containing Subject Pronoun, “what” in Chinese becomes an Object Interrogative Pronoun. The Subject Pronoun is written at the beginning of the sentence.

If you want to construct your sentence in the past tense form, the character 了 (le) is written after a Chinese verb.

Examples of how to use 什么 with a Subject Pronoun:

• 你想买什么？(nǐ xiǎng mǎi shén me?) – What do you want to buy?
• 你喜欢吃什么？(nǐ xǐ huān chī shén me?) – What do you like to eat?
• 你想喝什么？ (nǐ xiǎng hē shén me?) – What do you want to drink?
• 你说什么？(nǐ shuō shén me?) – What are you saying?
• 我这么说，有什么不对？(wǒ zhè me shuō, yǒu shé me bù duì?) – What did I say wrong?
• 你做了什么？(nǐ zuò le shén me?) – What did you do? (past tense)
• 老板说了什么？(lǎo bǎn shuō le shén me?) – What did the boss say? (past tense)

什么 With Demonstrative Pronoun

Chinese Demonstrative Pronouns such as 这, 那, 这些, 那些 (zhè, nà, zhè xiē, nà xiē) are placed at the beginning of the sentence when you are using English Demonstrative Pronouns and when there is no Personal Pronoun used.

Examples of how to use 什么 with a Demonstrative Pronoun:

• 那是什么？(nà shì shén me?) – What is that?
• 这是什么？(zhè shì shén me?) – What is this?
• 那些是什么？(nà xiē shì shén me?) – What are those?
• 这些是什么？(zhè xiē shì shén me?) – What are these?
• 这里有什么好玩的？(zhè li yǒu shé me hǎo wán de?) – What is interesting here?
• 这个是什么？(zhè ge shì shén me?) – What is this one?
• 这是什么地方？(zhè shì shén me dì fāng?) – What place is this?

什么 With Object Pronoun

When you use an Object Pronoun (me, us, her, him) in the sentence, “what” in Chinese becomes a Subject Interrogative Pronoun. It is written in this format (什么 + Noun) and is placed first in the sentence.

Examples of how to use 什么 with an Object Pronoun:

• 什么东西能使她快乐？ (shén me dōng xī néng shǐ tā kuài lè?) – What are the things that make her happy?
• 什么情况之下能让他哭？(shén me qíng kuàng zhī xià néng ràng tā kū?) – What circumstances can make him cry?
• 什么会让她离开? (shén me huì ràng tā lí kāi?) – What will make her leave?
• 什么会让我买它? (shén me huì ràng wǒ mǎi tā?) – What will make me buy it?
• 什么会让我们留下来? (shén me huì ràng wǒmen liú xià lái?) – What will make us stay?
• 什么会让他考虑这份工作? (shén me huì ràng tā kǎolǜ zhè fèn gōngzuò?) – What will make him consider the job?
• 什么事情让我生气? (shén me shìqíng ràng wǒ shēngqì?) – What are the things that make me angry?

什么 With Both Subject and Object Pronouns

In the Chinese language, both Subject and Object Pronouns share the same words – 我，你，他，她，我们，你们 unlike in the English language.

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In English, Personal Pronouns can either be I or Me. While in Chinese, the Personal Pronouns are the same character (我 vs 我) or wǒ. This can confuse when they appear at the same time in the sentence.

You may want to read about Personal Pronouns in Chinese to help you better understand the difference.

Examples of how to use 什么 with both Subject and Object Pronouns:

• 我不知道你刚才说什么？ 我听不清楚. (wǒ bù zhī dào nǐ gāng cái shuō shén me? Wǒ tīng bù qīng chǔ.) – What are you talking about just now? I can’t hear clearly.
• 你是什​​么意思? 我很迷惑. (nǐ shì shén ​​me yìsi? Wǒ hěn mí huò.) – What do you mean by that? I am confused.
• 你能提供什么帮助？ 我需要它. (nǐ néng tígōng shén me bāngzhù? Wǒ xūyào tā.) – What help can you offer? I need it.
• 你在教什么课？ 我能帮你. (nǐ zài jiào shén me kè? Wǒ néng bāng nǐ.) – What lesson are you teaching? I can help you.
• 是什么让你难过？ 我可以安慰你. (shì shén me ràng nǐ nánguò? Wǒ kěyǐ ānwèi nǐ.) – What is making you sad? I can comfort you.
• 你想说什么？ 我能帮你. (nǐ xiǎng shuō shén me? Wǒ néng bāng nǐ.) – What do you want to say? I can help you.
• 你在做什么？ 我能帮你. (nǐ zài zuò shén me? Wǒ néng bāng nǐ.) – What are you doing about it? I can help you.

“What” in ChineseUsing Kind / Type / Sort

If you want to ask a person about their preference in a category, apply the “What type/kind/sort of + Noun” format. You use either 什么样（ shén me yàng ) or 什么类型 ( shén me lèi xíng).

An example sentence would be 你喜欢看什么样的电影? (nǐ xǐ huān kàn shén me yàng de diàn yǐng?) translates to “What kind of movie do you like to watch?”

“What” in Chinese – 怎么 ( zěn me )

怎么 (zěn me) has limited usage, for it is often translated to “how” in Mandarin Chinese language instead of “what.” Using 怎么 (zěn me) or 什么 (shén me) will depend on the version you want to express in English.

The sentence “what happened?” in Chinese is 怎么了? (zěn me le?). You mainly want to know how it happened and not what actually happened.

Conclusion

Using “what” in Chinese properly is advantageous because it is frequently used in many conversations. You may find it difficult and confusing initially, but you will eventually get it.

If you find this article helpful and you want to learn Mandarin Chinese better, you may want to click this link to learn more about the Mandarin course.

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Category: WHAT