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干嘛

幹嘛
gànmá
adverb

Meanings

  1. 1 what are you doing?
  2. 2 why on earth?
  3. 3 what for?
  4. 4 what's the matter?

Examples

HSK 1
你干嘛不早点告诉我？
Nǐ gànmá bù zǎo diǎn gàosù wǒ?
Why on earth didn't you tell me sooner?
HSK 1
你在干嘛呢？
Nǐ zài gànmá ne?
What are you up to?
HSK 2
干嘛生这么大的气？
Gànmá shēng zhème dà de qì?
What are you so angry about?

Tips

usage
Highly colloquial. Two uses: (1) as a question word meaning 'what are you doing' (你在干嘛), (2) as an exasperated 'why on earth' (干嘛这样). Tone is casual and can sound challenging.
mistakes
干嘛 and 干什么 are near-equivalents, but 干嘛 is chattier and shows more emotion. Mainland writers often use the variant 干吗; both spellings share the same rising-tone má reading. Note the 嘛 here is rising tone, not the toneless particle 嘛 of sentences like 他是学生嘛.

Stroke Order

干 gān
嘛 ma