HSK 2 · Modal Verbs

为什么 wèishénme “why” in Chinese

Traditional 為什麼

What 为什么 means

  1. why
  2. why?
  3. for what reason?

How to say 为什么

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale为wèi4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale什shén2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own么meneutral tone, light and short

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

为什么 in a sentence

  1. 为什么你不给他打电话？

    Wèishénme nǐ bù gěi tā dǎ diànhuà?

    Why don’t you call him?

    Sentence #10192248 from Tatoeba

  2. 为什么你不休息一下？

    Wèishénme nǐ bù xiūxi yíxià?

    Why don’t you have a rest?

    Sentence #1441776 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 您知道为什么吗？

    Nín zhīdao wèishénme ma?

    Do you know why?

    Sentence #10695962 from Tatoeba

How 为什么 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 为 (wèi) with each of its parts in a different colour
为wèibecause of
  • 丶dot · zhǔ
  • 力strength · lì
  • 丶dot · zhǔ
The character 什 (shén) with each of its parts in a different colour
什shénwhat
  • 亻person form of 人 · rén
  • 十ten · shí
The character 么 (me) with each of its parts in a different colour
么mesuffix, used to form interrogative 什么
  • 丿slash · piě
  • 厶private · sī

How to write 为什么

为 4 strokes · 什 4 strokes · 么 3 strokes

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

为什么 (wèishénme) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 为什么 (wèishénme). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 为什么

Words with 为

因为yīnwèi · because为wèi · for认为rènwéi · believe为了wèile · in order to以为yǐwéi · to think (wrongly)成为chéngwéi · to become行为xíngwéi · action作为zuòwéi · as (in the role of)为期wéiqī · to last for (a period)人为rénwéi · man-made

Words with 什

什么shénme · what

Words with 么

什么shénme · what怎么zěnme · how怎么样zěnmeyàng · how is it那么nàme · like that这么zhème · so much多么duōme · how怎么办zěnmebàn · what should I do?

More words: Modal Verbs & Connectors

别bié · don’t可以kěyǐ · can可能kěnéng · maybe要yào · want也yě · also因为yīnwèi · because所以suǒyǐ · so但是dànshì · but

FAQs

为什么 (wèishénme) means “why” or “why?”. It is an HSK 2 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it wèishénme: wèi with a 4th tone, then shén with a 2nd tone, then me with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 为什么 is written 為什麼. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type weishenme with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 为什么 from the suggestions. Typing weishenme into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
为什么 is an HSK 2 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.