干吗

幹嗎
gànmá
phrase #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 吗 here is the colloquial rising-tone má (a variant orthography for 嘛), not the toneless question particle.

Examples

HSK 1
Nǐ gànmá ne?
What are you doing?
HSK 2
Gànmá yào zhèyàng zuò?
Why do it this way?
HSK 3
Gànmá shēngqì?
Why are you angry?

Tips

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

Stroke Order

干 gān
吗 ma