HSK 6 · Function Words

啥 shá “what (informal)” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 啥 means

  1. what (informal)
  2. dialectal equivalent of 什么

How to say 啥

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale啥shá2nd tone, rising

啥 in a sentence

  1. 这是啥？

    Zhè shì shá?

    What’s this?

    Sentence #347298 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他们这儿啥都卖。

    Tāmen zhèr shá dōu mài.

    They sell everything here.

    Sentence #1929127 from Tatoeba

  3. 你在想啥呢？

    Nǐ zài xiǎng shá ne?

    What are you thinking about?

    Sentence #12422344 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 啥 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 啥 (shá) with each of its parts in a different colour
啥shádialectal equivalent of 什么
  • 口mouth · kǒuMeaning part
  • 舍house · shěSound part

口 hints at the meaning (mouth); 舍 (shě) hints at the sound. Compare it with shá.

How to write 啥

啥 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 啥

More words: Function Words & Grammar

人家rénjia · other people任意rènyì · at will日益rìyì · increasingly若干ruògān · a certain number尚且shàngqiě · even势必shìbì · bound to束shù · bunch艘sōu · measure word for boats and ships

FAQs

啥 (shá) means “what (informal)” or “dialectal equivalent of 什么”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it shá: shá with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 啥 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type sha with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 啥 from the suggestions. Typing sha into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
啥 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.