Learn Chinese for Free - Lesson 44

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Today's Chinese characters:

什么

Today we introduce the first "interrogative word". You're going to learn another way of asking questions.

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Today with this lesson your knowledge of Chinese characters will reach 21.6% of all the Chinese language usage!

Characters' Essentials

Character Help
什
Pronunciation Help
shén
Meaning Help
-First character of the word 什么 ("what")
Character Help
么
Pronunciation Help
me
Meaning Help
-Second character of the word 什么 ("what")

Description and Examples

Word
什么
Pronunciation Help
shén me
Meaning Help
-What (used to indicate interrogation)
-(Used to indicate something indefinite)
-(Used before 也 or 都 to indicate the absence of exceptions within the stated scope)
-(In a phrase or sentence with one 什么 preceding another, the first 什么 always determines the meaning of the second 什么)
-(Used to indicate surprise or displeasure)
-(Used to indicate reproach)
-(Used after a verb to indicate disapproval)
-(Used before parallel words or phrases to indicate enumeration)
Word
什么的
Pronunciation Help
shén me de
Meaning Help
And so on, and what not


Dialogue 29

A:
你好！你姓什么？
B:
我姓陈。
A:
她姓什么？
B:
她也姓陈。
A:
她也是工人吗？
B:
她不是工人，她是医生。

Sentence Structure 28
Interrogative Word “什么”

An interrogative word may be used to raise a question and it is placed where the answer is expected. Therefore, the word order of the answer is the same as that of the question, with the interrogative word being replaced by the corresponding answer. Here we pay special attention to the interrogative word 什么.

  1. 什么, when used alone as interrogative word, refers to things.

    Example

    Question: 他姓什么？

    Answer: 他姓刘。

    Please note that the word order is the same in both answer and question. The interrogative word 什么 is in the same position of the part being questioned (that is the surname 刘).

  2. 什么, when used as interrogative word before nouns, refers to things or persons.

    Examples

    他是什么人？ (What sort of person is he?)

    什么工作？ (Which job?)


The meaning of: 他姓什么？

It is used for asking another person's name. One shouldn't say "他贵姓？".


Exercise

Answer the following questions:

今天你来吗？

你妈妈、哥哥、姐姐、弟弟身体好吗？

你忙不忙？


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Characters' Details

Chinese Character 90 of 1000

appearance score: # 156
frequency: 0.1384307%
Character Help
什
Animation Help
Strokes Help
4
Pronunciation Help
shén
Meaning Help
-(First character of the Chinese word for 'what': 什么)
Pronunciation Help
shí
Meaning Help
-Assorted; varied; ten

This character has a different traditional version.

Traditional Help
Pronunciation Help
shén
Meaning Help
(same as simplified one's)

Chinese Character 91 of 1000

appearance score: # 63
frequency: 0.2470072%
Character Help
么
Animation Help
Strokes Help
3
Pronunciation Help
me
Meaning Help
-(Used as a suffix to a few words)
-(Used in songs for balance or euphony)

This character has two different traditional versions.

Traditional Help
Pronunciation Help
me
Meaning Help
(same as simplified one's)
Traditional Help
Pronunciation Help
me
Meaning Help
-(Used as a suffix to a few words)
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