Kilo Lingo

(shén) - what (component of 什么) in Mandarin

shén

Traditional: 什

Line drawing of 什
Coloured illustration of 什
#980 of 2,700Core 1000

Translation

what (component of 什么)

Test yourself on 什

Three quick questions. No account needed.

Know this word? Create a free account to track it.

Word origin

什 (shén) is the person radical 亻 beside 十 'ten'. It first meant a squad of ten or 'assorted', and in the modern word 什么 (shénme) it is used purely for its sound as part of the interrogative 'what'.

Origin
phono-semantic compound
Root
亻(person radical) + 十 (shí, phonetic)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 什

什

Examples

？

When does it start?

？

What is your name?

。

He knows everything.

。

I do not know what he is saying.

？

What would you like to eat?

什 (shén) is a component most commonly seen in 什么 meaning what.

Where this fits

The 1,000 most common Mandarin words

Where this word sits in the core vocabulary, and what to learn around it.

Mandarin vocabulary by HSK level

How many words each level actually needs, with real counts.

Mandarin learning guides

Podcasts, pronunciation traps and the things a word list cannot teach.

Appears in 8 words

Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 什.

什么shén mewhat什么shénmewhat什么时候shénme shíhouwhen为什么wèishénmewhy为什么wèi shén mewhy, for what reason干什么gàn shén mewhat are (you/they) doing, why do that没什么méi shén meit's nothing, never mind, no big deal什么样shén me yàngwhat kind of, what sort of

Used in

Grammar articles

(22)

Add to review queue

Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.

Chapters 1 and 2 free

Meet this word in a story

Every course has graded stories written only with words you have been taught, plus grammar drills, a games arcade and printable worksheets. Chapters 1 and 2 are free.

Chapters 1 and 2 free, forever. Plus: 7 days free, then $5 a month for all eleven languages.

Start learning free

Mandarin · Free printables

什: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "什" (what (component of 什么)): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

Part of Kilo Lingo Plus

Printables beyond chapters 1 and 2 are part of Kilo Lingo Plus. Sign up free and start your free week to download as many as you like: no card.

Start your free week (no card)

This word is taught in chapter 12, lesson 8: 什, 米, 总 and 7 more words.