The 6 W‘s of English question styles are all different words. However, in basic mandarin Chinese, if you have learned one word 什 么 which means “what”, then you can almost say all the other questions.
She told him to buy 两个洋葱, he literally came back with 2 onions.
Table of Contents
1. What (什么: Shénme)?
1.1. 什 (shi)
“什” has two different pronunciations. The first pronunciation is “shi”, which means ten or many. Actually, the right side of the character means ten (十), and the left side relates to person (人). Together its original meaning is “ten people”. In ancient Chinese time, the smallest unit of an army consisted of ten people which was called “一什”. These ten people fought together as a team. Also, the smallest neighbourhood unit is made of ten families (called “一什”), making it more efficient for the government to manage.
When it is pronounced “shi”, it also means many. For example:
“ 什 锦”, means many or mix together.
“什 锦 菜” many kinds of vegetables.
“什 锦 糖” different kinds of candies.
When Chinese use numbers to talk basic mandarin, most of the time they don’t literarily mean that number. For example, “两个” (two ) often means a few. 三、五、九、什, all of them can mean many. I know of a couple where the wife is Chinese and the husband English, living in China. One day, the wife asked the husband to go buy “两 个 洋 葱” (two onions). The husband literally brought back exactly two onions and told his wife that the street vendor did not even ask him to pay for them. The wife was not happy, and complained:
“难怪人家没要你钱， 让你买两个洋葱你就真拿回来两个啊！” ( No wonder the vendor did not ask you to pay. I asked you to buy two onions, and you really brought back two.)
Actually, when she said 两 个 She meant a few. although unhappy, she did not overly blame him for taking her words literally, because only people who grew-up in the culture know about this tricky numbers’s manipulation.
1.2. 什 (shen)
When it is pronounced “shen”, it is always coupled with the character “么”（a light touch tone）.
“什么” together means “what”.
For example:
你 刚 才 说 的 是 什 么
What did you say just now?
1.3. Who
Once you have learned the basic mandarin “什么”(what), “who” becomes easy. Indeed, you just need to add “人” after the “什么”. It therefore becomes “什么人”.
For example:
· 什 么 人 今 天 主 持 会 议？
(Who will host the meeting today?)
There is another character which also means “who”， which is the character谁.
For example:
谁 今 天 主 持 会 议
(Who will host the meeting today?). In spoken language, “谁” is often pronounced “shei” instead of “shui”.
1.4. When
If you just add “时间” after “什么”:
“什 么 时 间” you get “what time”. For example: 她什么时间来？（when is she coming?）.
1.5. Where
Again, you can just add “地点/地方” after the “什么” to get a new question form. In this case “where”. The complete formation of where is “什么地点/地方”.
For example:
· 今 天 我 们 去 什 么 地 方？
(Where are we going today?)
· 什 么 地 点 可 以 看 到 日 出
(Where can we see the sunrise?)
There is another character which also means “where”. It’s “哪” (Nǎ).
For example:
· 今 天 我 们 去 哪？
(Where are we going today?)
· 哪 可 以 看 到 日 出？
(Where can we see the sunrise?)
1.6. Why
If you add “为” before “什么” together, you get “为 什 么” which means “why”. Actually, “为” here means “for”.
Examples:
为 什 么 她 今 天 没 有 来 上 班？(Why she did not come to the office today?)
她 今 天 没 有 来 上 班，为 什 么？（She did not come to the office today, why?）
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