什么 (shénme) means What (something - anything). Below are 24 of the 50 sentences on this site that use it — with pinyin, an English translation and audio. All of them were written by hand; none is machine generated.
Dictionary examples
From the graded readers
爸爸说：“你想吃 什么 ？”
bàba shuō:" nǐ xiǎng chī shénme?"
Dad said, "What do you want to eat?"
Graded reader · HSK 1 · At the Restaurant
那个人点了点头，没说 什么 。
nèigè rén diǎn le / liǎo / liào diǎntóu, méi shuō shénme.
The interviewer nodded and said nothing.
Graded reader · HSK 3 · The Job Interview
我把家里找了一遍， 什么 也没找到。
wǒ bǎ jiālǐ zhǎo le / liǎo / liào yī biàn, shénme yě méi zhǎodào.
I searched the whole flat and found nothing.
Graded reader · HSK 3 · Losing My Phone
最难的不是搬，而是决定 什么 东西要扔。
zuì nán de / dì búshì bān, érshì juédìng shénme dōngxī yāo rēng.
The hard part wasn't the carrying — it was deciding what to throw away.
Graded reader · HSK 3 · Moving House
我坐在地上看了两个小时， 什么 都没扔。
wǒ zuò zài dìshàng kànle liǎng gè xiǎoshí, shénme dōu méi rēng.
I sat on the floor and looked through them for two hours, and threw nothing out.
Graded reader · HSK 3 · Moving House
我们站在那里，忽然都不知道说 什么 好。
wǒmen zhàn zài nàli, hūrán dōu bùzhī dào shuō shénme hǎo / hào.
We stood there and suddenly neither of us knew what to say.
Graded reader · HSK 4 · Saying Goodbye
From the travel phrasebook
有 什么 推荐的？
Yǒu shénme tuījiàn de?
What do you recommend?
Travel phrasebook · Ordering in a restaurant
一百个 什么 价？
Yìbǎi gè shénme jià?
What's the price for a hundred?
Travel phrasebook · Sourcing online (1688 and Alibaba)
您来中国做 什么 ？
Nín lái Zhōngguó zuò shénme?
What are you coming to China for?
Travel phrasebook · Airport and immigration
From the grammar library
你 什么 时候来？
Nǐ shénme shíhou lái?
When are you coming?
Grammar library · HSK 1 · Question words stay in place
你在做 什么 呢？
Nǐ zài zuò shénme ne?
What are you doing?
Grammar library · HSK 2 · 在 — location and "-ing"
你是 什么 时候来的？
Nǐ shì shénme shíhou lái de?
When did you get here?
Grammar library · HSK 4 · 是…的 — emphasising the details
什么 appears in 50 sentences on this site; the 24 shortest and most direct are shown. The rest are on the pages they were written for — the graded readers, the phrasebook and the grammar library.
Words that contain 什么
Each of these has sentences of its own, so you can see the character doing a different job in each one.
Questions about 什么
How is 什么 used in a sentence?
This page shows 50 sentences using 什么 (shénme, "What (something - anything)"), each with pinyin, an English translation and audio. Every one of them was written by hand for this site.
Are these sentences machine generated?
No. They come from the site's own dictionary examples, graded readers, travel phrasebook and grammar library — all written by a person. A word with no sentence gets no page here, rather than a page of invented ones.
Is 什么 an HSK word?
Yes — 什么 is on the official HSK 1 vocabulary list, and you can study it with the rest of that list on the HSK 1 page.
Where can I see the full entry for 什么?
The dictionary page for 什么 has its stroke order, its traditional form, every sense the dictionary lists and a character-by-character breakdown. It is linked at the top of this page.
Keep going
Read the full entry for 什么, write a sentence of your own and check it in the Pinyin Annotator, drill it with HSK 1 flashcards, or search the whole sentence bank for another word.
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