Beginner Lesson 2.1 – Ask People’s Name
Question Word What In Chinese | Ask People's Name In Chinese
- Question Word What in Chinese: 什么
- Ask people's name in Chinese with last name, first name, full name and nickname
VOCABULARY
| HSK | CHINESE | PINYIN | P.O.S | ENGLISH | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 你 | nǐ | pr. | you | |
| 1 | 什么 | shénme | q pr. | what | |
| 1 | 什① | shén | / | / | |
| 1 | 么② | me | / | / |
NOTE: ①② Neither 什 nor 么 is a word. They have to be combined with another character to form a word. You can learn more about Characters vs. Words.
GRAMMAR
Grammar 1: Question Word What in Chinese 什么 · HSK 1
shénme 什么 what
什么 is the Question Word what in Chinese. But unlike in English, when we use the Question Word 什么, it will not be automatically put at the beginning of the sentence. For example:
- nǐ xìng shénme
你姓什么？
what is your last name - nǐ jiào shénme
你叫什么？
what is your (first) name
Grammar 2: Chinese Sentence Word Order · HSK 1
In Chinese, generally the sentence word order follows this structure:
Subject ➜ Verb (Predicate) ➜ Object
So the word order is the same whether it is to ask people's name in Chinese or to answer the question in Chinese. Here are the examples:
| S | V | O | ||
| 1 | wǒ 我 I |
jiào 叫 am called |
Dàwèi 大卫 David |
。 |
| nǐ 你 you |
jiào 叫 are called |
shénme 什么 what |
？ | |
| 2 | wǒ 我 I |
xìng 姓 last name is |
Lǐ 李 Li |
。 |
| nǐ 你 you |
xìng 姓 last name is |
shénme 什么 what |
？ |
Grammar 3: Ask People's Name in Chinese with 你叫什么 · HSK 1
nǐ jiào shén me 你叫什么？what are you called
To ask people's name in Chinese, there are multiple ways. We can use 你叫什么 to ask people's (1)full name; (2) first name or nick name that is not one-character. For example:
Ask/answer with first name - when the first name is two-character
Q: nǐ jiào shén me
你叫什么？
what are you called
A: wǒ jiào Dàwèi
我叫大卫。
my name is David
Ask/answer with nickname - when the first name is one-character
Q: nǐ jiào shén me
你叫什么？
what are you called
A: wǒ jiào Lónglong
我叫龙龙。
my name is Longlong
Ask/answer with full name
Q: nǐ jiào shén me
你叫什么？
what are you called
A: wǒ jiào Chéng Lóng
我叫成龙。
my name is Cheng Long
Grammar 4. Ask People's Name in Chinese with 你姓什么 · HSK 1
nǐ xìng shén me 你姓什么？what is your last name
We can use this structure to ask people's last name. This way to ask people's name in Chinese is usually more formal or more polite. It could sound a little distant as well.
Q: nǐ xìng shén me
你姓什么？
what is your last name
A: wǒ xìng Lǐ
我姓李。
my last name is Li