啥 (shá) - What — interrogative pronoun used in colloquial Mandarin & equivalent to 什么 but more informal.
啥 · shá
What — interrogative pronoun used in colloquial Mandarin to ask 'what' or 'which';
equivalent to 什么 but more informal.
What — interrogative pronoun used in colloquial Mandarinequivalent to 什么 but more informal.
Usage highlights
What thingWhat personWhat timeWhat placeWhat meaningWhat reason
Usage & contexts
Examples
- What are you doing?(你在干啥?)
- What's this?(这是啥?)
- What's the matter?(咋回事?)
- What do you want to eat?(你想吃啥?)
Collocations
- What thing(啥事)
- What person(啥人)
- What time(啥时候)
- What place(啥地方)
- What meaning(啥意思)
- What reason(啥原因)
Idioms
- To be clueless(搞啥名堂)
- What's all the fuss about?(闹啥呢)
- What are you up to?(干啥呢)
- What's the big deal?(有啥了不起)
Cultural background
FAQ- Originally from northern Chinese dialects, now widely used in informal spoken Mandarin throughout China.
- Considered more casual and folksy than the standard 什么, often conveying familiarity or regional flavor.
- Frequently appears in northeastern Chinese speech and has spread through media and internet culture.