干吗

幹嗎
gànmá
phrase HSK 3 #794

Meanings

  1. 1 what are you doing?
  2. 2 what for?; why?

Characters

Literally 'do what?' — a very casual way to ask what someone is doing or why. The here is the colloquial rising-tone má (a variant orthography for ), not the toneless question particle.

Examples

Nǐ gànmá ne?
What are you doing?
Gànmá yào zhèyàng zuò?
Why do it this way?
Nǐ gànmá bú qù?
Why aren't you going?
Gànmá shēngqì?
Why are you angry?

Tips

usage
干吗 is very colloquial and casual. It can sound confrontational depending on tone — 干吗 (curious) vs. 干吗!(annoyed).
mistakes
Also written 干嘛 — both 干吗 and 干嘛 are acceptable spellings for the same gànmá. Watch the tones: is 4th tone (gàn, to do), not 1st (gān, dry); here is rising má, not the toneless question particle ma.

Stroke Order

gān
ma