什么

• 拼音: shén me
• 汉字拆解: 什 = 亻(person) + 十 (ten); 么 = a grammatical particle, simplified from 麼

含义

What; which. The most common interrogative pronoun for asking about things.

The most frequently used question word in Chinese. Used to ask about identity, type, reason, and more. Unlike English, the question word stays in place of the unknown — the sentence structure doesn't invert. Also used in exclamations and to mean 'anything' in certain patterns, e.g. 什么都行 (anything is fine).

例句

1. 你叫什么名字？
2. 这是什么？
3. 你喜欢吃什么？

用法指南

语境: questions, everyday

语气: neutral

正确说法

• 你在做什么？(What are you doing?)
• 什么时候走？(When are we leaving?)

错误说法

• 什么你要？(Wrong word order — say 你要什么, keeping the question word in the object position)

起源与历史

Originally 什 meant 'ten' or 'miscellaneous,' and 么 is a particle. Together they evolved into the standard question word 'what' in vernacular Chinese.

文化背景

世代: All ages

社会背景: Universal