么 (má): exclamatory final particle, interrogative final particle, suffix, used to form interrogative 什麼|什么, what?, indefinite 這麼|这么 thus, etc
么 (má) is a Chinese character meaning “exclamatory final particle.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 丿 (structural) and 厶 (structural). It ranks #63 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Definitions
- exclamatory final particle
- interrogative final particle
- suffix, used to form interrogative 什麼|什么, what?, indefinite 這麼|这么 thus, etc
Stroke Order
Practice writing 么 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 么
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 什么pronoun | shén me | what? | 1 |
| 怎么pronoun | zěn me | how? | 1 |
| 为什么 | wèi shén me | why? | 2 |
| 这么pronoun | zhè me | so much | 2 |
| 那么pronoun/conjunction | nà me | like that | 2 |
| 怎么样pronoun | zěn me yàng | how? | 1 |
| 怎么办 | zěn me bàn | what's to be done | 3 |
| 多么adverb | duō me | how (wonderful etc) | 4 |
| 要么conjunction | yào me | or | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 没什么 | méi shén me | it doesn't matter |
| 干什么 | gàn shén me | what are you doing? |
| 什么样 | shén me yàng | what kind? |
| 什么的 | shén me de | and so on |
| 怎么着 | zěn me zhāo | what? |
| 不怎么 | bù zěn me | not very |
| 这么着 | zhè me zhe | thus |
| 这么样 | zhè me yàng | thus |
| 那么着 | nà me zhe | (do sth) that way |
| 怎么得了 | zěn me dé liǎo | how can this be? |
| 没有什么不可能 | méi yǒu shén me bù kě néng | nothing is impossible |
| 这么点 | zhè me diǎn | such a small amount of (money, time etc) |
| 没有什么 | méi yǒu shén me | it is nothing |
| 么么 | me me | kissing sound (slang onom.) |
| 什么人 | shén me rén | who? |
么 appears in 46 compound words: 2 as the first character, 37 as the last, and 61 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 么 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (5)
Example Sentences
写好么字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。
xiě hǎo má zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhēng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .
To write the character "么" correctly, you need to master the proper stroke order.
没有你想的那么光鲜 有些冬奥选手已私下在做一事
méi yǒu nǐ xiǎng de nà má guāng xiān yǒu xiē dōng ào xuǎn shǒu yǐ sī xià zài zuò yī shì
Not as glamorous as you think Some Winter Olympians are already doing something in private
为什么百货公司一楼没厕?背后原因超心机
wéi shén má bǎi huò gōng sī yī lóu méi cè ? bèi hòu yuán yīn chāo xīn jī
Why is there no toilet on the first floor of a department store? The reason behind it is super scheming
...|家乡连线:“最强夫妻档”!电影都不敢这么演..
. . . jiā xiāng lián xiàn : zuì qiáng fū qī dàng ! diàn yǐng dōu bù gǎn zhè má yǎn . .
...| Hometown Connection: "The Strongest Husband and Wife"! The movie doesn't dare to act like this:
2026祛斑产品什么好?十大祛斑产品排名深扒:祛斑..
2 0 2 6 祛 bān chǎn pǐn shén má hǎo ? shí dà 祛 bān chǎn pǐn pái míng shēn bā : 祛 bān . .
What are the best freckle removal products in 2026? Top 10 freckle removal product rankings: freckle removal:
洗面奶什么牌子好?聚焦公认好用的洗面奶年终榜TOP...
xǐ miàn nǎi shén má pái zǐ hǎo ? jù jiāo gōng rèn hǎo yòng de xǐ miàn nǎi nián zhōng bǎng T O P . . .
What brand of facial cleanser is good? Focus on the year-end list of facial cleansers that are recognized as easy to use...
你好！我叫汤姆。你叫什么？
Nǐhǎo! wǒ jiào Tāngmǔ. nǐ jiào shénme?
Hi, my name's Tom. What's yours?
你能告诉我这是什么吗？
Nǐ néng gàosu wǒ zhè shì shénme ma?
Can you tell me what this is?
有什么事是我该做的吗？
Yǒu shénme shì shì wǒ gāi zuò de ma?
Is there anything I must do?
他来这里的目的是什么？
Tā lái zhèlǐ de mùdì shì shénme?
For what purpose did he come here?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 么 (má) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 么 have?
What is the radical of 么?
What are the components of 么?
What are common words containing 么?
What characters sound the same as 么 (má)?
Is 么 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 么 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.