HSK 6 · Function Words

嘛 ma “(particle indicating obviousness or urging)” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

Hear it in a sentence

What 嘛 means

  1. (particle indicating obviousness or urging)
  2. modal particle indicating that sth is obvious
  3. particle indicating a pause for emphasis

How to say 嘛

  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own嘛maneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

嘛 in a sentence

  1. 来嘛！给我个机会。

    Lái ma! Gěi wǒ ge jīhuì.

    Come on! Give me a chance.

    Sentence #461998 from Tatoeba

  2. 你日语不错嘛。

    Nǐ Rìyǔ búcuò ma.

    Your Japanese is pretty good!

    Sentence #1968826 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 你要是有什么想说的话，就说嘛。

    Nǐ yàoshi yǒu shénme xiǎng shuō de huà, jiù shuō ma.

    If you’ve got something to say, just say it.

    Sentence #10362551 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 嘛 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 嘛 (ma) with each of its parts in a different colour
嘛mamodal particle indicating that sth is
  • 口mouth · kǒuMeaning part
  • 麻hemp · máSound part

口 hints at the meaning (mouth); 麻 (má) hints at the sound. Compare it with ma.

How to write 嘛

嘛 14 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

嘛 (ma) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 嘛 (ma). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 嘛

More words: Function Words & Grammar

进而jìn'ér · and then况且kuàngqiě · moreover啦la · (sentence-final particle: 了 + 啊)连同liántóng · together with枚méi · (measure word for coins免得miǎnde · so as not to明明míngmíng · clearly默默mòmò · silently

FAQs

嘛 (ma) means “(particle indicating obviousness or urging)” or “modal particle indicating that sth is obvious”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it ma: ma with a neutral tone. Play the example sentences on this page to hear it in use.
Yes. 嘛 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type ma with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 嘛 from the suggestions. Typing ma into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
嘛 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.