Kilo Lingo

(zěn me) - how; why (in rhetorical questions) in Mandarin

zěnme

Traditional: 怎麼

Line drawing of 怎么
Coloured illustration of 怎么
HSK 1
#50 of 2,700Core 1000

Translation

how; why (in rhetorical questions)

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Word origin

怎么 (zěnme) 'how, why' joins 怎 (zěn, 'how') and the suffix 么 (me). 怎 is a phono-semantic compound with 心 (xīn, 'heart' radical) under 乍 (zhà) as phonetic; 么 is a light grammatical suffix.

Origin
compound
Root
怎 (心 heart radical + 乍 phonetic) + 么 (me, suffix)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 怎

怎

Stroke order for 么

么

Examples

？

How do you read this character?

？

How did you get here?

？

Why has he still not called?

？

Why did you not say so earlier?

？

How do you write this character?

Where this fits

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Used in

Stories

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Mandarin · Free printables

怎么: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "怎么" (how; why (in rhetorical questions)): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

This word is taught in chapter 2, lesson 5: 怎么, 你们, 呢 and 7 more words.