The question word 什么 (what)
【一04】【一46】疑问代词 / 用“什么”提问
Tone colorsā tone 1á tone 2ǎ tone 3à tone 4a neutral
Subject + Verb + 什么 (+ Noun)？
什么 (shénme) means “what”. The golden rule of Chinese questions: the question word sits where the answer will go. Nothing moves!
你喝什么？ → 我喝茶。 The word 茶 lands exactly where 什么 was.
什么 can also go before a noun: 什么名字 (what name), 什么书 (what book).
This is a big difference from English, which moves the question word to the front (“What do you drink?”). Chinese keeps statement word order.
Examples
这是什么？
Zhè shì shénme?What is this?
你喝什么？
Nǐ hē shénme?What are you drinking?
你买什么？
Nǐ mǎi shénme?What are you buying?
你星期天做什么？
Nǐ xīngqītiān zuò shénme?What are you doing on Sunday?
Common mistakes
✗ 什么你喝？ → ✓ 你喝什么？ (don't move the question word).
✗ 你叫什么名字吗？ → ✓ 你叫什么名字？ (never add 吗 to a question-word question).