幹嗎

See also: 干吗

Chinese

Etymology 1

 
main part of something; to manage; to work; to do; capable; tree trunk; to kill (slang)
 (question tag); morphine
trad. (幹嗎) 幹 嗎
simp. (干吗) 干 吗
alt. forms 幹嘛／干嘛
幹麼／干么

幹 (“to do”) + 嗎 (“(dialectal Mandarin, e.g. Tianjin) what”). Colloquial; the formal equivalent in Standard Mandarin is 做什麼 or 幹什麼.

The second element is cognate with 麼 (me) in Standard Mandarin 什麼／什么 (shénme, “what”), and is usually written as 嘛 when writing Tianjin dialect. Dictionaries only consider consider toneless ma (declarative particle) as the only proper use of 嘛. All other senses, including the dialectally influenced pronunciation of má ("what") and the interrogative particle of ma, are considered incorrect. However, there is much confusion in actual writing, possibly with 幹嘛 being used more commonly for this sense.

Pronunciation

Verb

幹嗎

  1. (colloquial) what is (someone) doing; what is going on
    你現在幹嗎呢？ / 你现在干吗呢？  ―  Nǐ xiànzài gànmá ne?  ―  What are you doing now?
  2. (colloquial) what is wrong; what is up
    你幹嗎呀？ / 你干吗呀？  ―  Nǐ gànmá ya?  ―  What's up with you?

Adverb

幹嗎

  1. (colloquial) why; why on earth; whatever for
    Nǐ gànmá zhémó zìjǐ a! [Pinyin]
    Why are you torturing yourself?

Etymology 2

 
main part of something; to manage; to work; to do; capable; tree trunk; to kill (slang)
 (question tag); morphine
trad. (幹嗎) 幹 嗎
simp. (干吗) 干 吗
alt. forms 幹麼／干么

Pronunciation

Verb

幹嗎

  1. 幹 (“to do”) + 嗎 (“question particle”)
    這事你幹嗎？ / 这事你干吗？  ―  Zhè shì nǐ gàn ma?  ―  Will you do this?
  2. (vulgar) 幹 (“to fuck”) + 嗎 (“question particle”)
  3. Alternative form of 幹嘛 (“to do + declarative particle”).
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