怎么了

怎麼了

zěnme le

phrase

Meanings

1 what's wrong?; what happened?
2 so what?; what of it?

Characters

question suffix

particle marking a change

Examples

HSK 3

我就迟到了五分钟，怎么了？

Wǒ jiù chídào le wǔ fēnzhōng, zěnme le?

So I was five minutes late. So what?

HSK 5

你怎么了？脸色这么难看。

Nǐ zěnme le? liǎnsè zhème nánkàn.

What's wrong with you? You look awful.

HSK 5

电脑怎么了？屏幕突然黑了。

Diànnǎo zěnme le? píngmù tūrán hēi le.

What happened to the computer? The screen suddenly went black.

Tips

usage

Asked with concern it means "what's the matter?"; thrown back at someone it is a challenge, "so what?". Northerners often say 咋了. Compare 怎么样, which asks how something is or what you think, not what went wrong.

Stroke Order

怎 zěn

么 me

了 le