HSK 1 · Question Words

怎么 zěnme “how” in Chinese

Traditional 怎麼

What 怎么 means

  1. how
  2. how?
  3. what?
  4. why?

How to say 怎么

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale怎zěn3rd tone, dipping
  • 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

怎么 in a sentence

  1. 我不知道怎么去那儿。

    Wǒ bù zhīdao zěnme qù nàr.

    I don’t know how to get there.

    Sentence #472890 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 你怎么会不知道？

    Nǐ zěnme huì bù zhīdao?

    How come you don’t know this?

    Sentence #334830 from Tatoeba

  3. 你怎么不睡觉呢？

    Nǐ zěnme bú shuìjiào ne?

    Why don’t you go to sleep?

    Sentence #1746056 from Tatoeba

How 怎么 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 怎 (zěn) with each of its parts in a different colour
怎zěnhow
  • 乍first time · zhàSound part
  • 心heart · xīnMeaning part

心 hints at the meaning (heart); 乍 (zhà) hints at the sound. Compare it with zěn.

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 怎么

怎 9 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.

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

Words related to 怎么

Words with 怎

怎么样zěnmeyàng · how is it怎样zěnyàng · how怎么办zěnmebàn · what should I do?

Words with 么

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

More words: Question Words

谁shéi · who什么shénme · what哪nǎ · which哪儿nǎr · where怎么样zěnmeyàng · how is it几jǐ · how many (small)多少duōshǎo · how many哪里nǎlǐ · where?

FAQs

怎么 (zěnme) means “how” or “how?”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it zěnme: zěn with a 3rd 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, 怎么 is written 怎麼. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zenme with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 怎么 from the suggestions. Typing zenme into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
怎么 is an HSK 1 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.