"干嘛" - The Word that You Must Know to Localize Your Chinese

When you start to learn how to speak Chinese, you must have noticed that there are some words that you've never seen in the textbook, but you've heard a lot from Chinese people. 

Sometimes, it's just a small group of words that quickly glide through native speakers' mouths, which annoys you so much because you almost understand every single word, but in reality, you don't.

In this series of posts, we're gonna introduce you this "dead angle" of the textbook to help you bridge the gap between the textbook and the real-world language.

The word that we want to explain today is:

干嘛 / 干吗 - gànmá

There're two ways to write it. Both are okay for Chinese people to read. This word means "what to do".

First of all, I have a question for you: how to say "what are you doing" in Chinese?

This is a simple question. Most of the elementary Chinese learners are able to say a very standard question based on textbook grammar:

你在做什么？

Nǐ zài zuò shénme？

Do Chinese locals really say this in their daily conversation? 

No, in most of the casual cases, they don't follow the textbook. 

They would say: 

你在干嘛？

Nǐ zài gànmá？

What are you doing?

People from the north would say:

你在干啥? 

Nǐ zài gànshá？

These all mean: what are you doing?

"干" gàn means "to do", "嘛" má  means "what"

So, from now on, if you replace "做什么" with "干吗" ，you will get a very local sentence with local tone.

For example:

周末你去干嘛？

Zhōumò nǐ qù gànmá？

What are you going to do in weekend?

你朋友是干嘛的？
Nǐ péngyou shì gànmáde？

What does your friend do for work?

Besides this, "干嘛" could also be used to express "why on earth", with a complaining tone.

For example:

你干嘛一直看我？
Nǐ gànmá yìzhí kàn wǒ？
Why on earth do you keep looking at me?

你干嘛说这些？
Nǐ gànmá shuō zhèxiē? 
Why on earth do you say this?

You got it? 

Start to use "干嘛" now to make your Chinese expressions more native!

---

In order to serve you better, and to provide you with quality learning anywhere and anytime, Letshuo and Silk Mandarin have joined forces! 

Stay tuned for our joint platform Letshuo@Silk Mandarin for a rewarding learning experience with materials and courses from our experienced educators made available to you both OffLine and OnLine.

We hope you will like it and we are looking forward to your feedback.

Scan the QR code below to follow and to know more about Letshuo!

---

If you want to know more about Silk Mandarin's teaching methodology and Chinese courses, scan the QR code below to contact us!

T: 400 803 5300

E: [e-mail]

A: SOHO Donghai Exchange, 299 Tongren Road 
Floor 6 Room 601
Shanghai

www.silkmandarin.cn