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Mythic Mandarin

怎么 (zěn me): meaning and stroke order

怎么 (zěn me) means how?, what?, why?, variant of 怎么.

怎么

Simplified
怎么
Traditional
怎麼, 怎麽
Pinyin
zěn me

Stroke order of 怎么

怎

  • zěn how
  • 9 strokes

Stroke by stroke

么

  • Yāo surname Yao
  • yāo youngest; most junior
  • má exclamatory final particle
  • 3 strokes
  • Simplified form: 幺

Stroke by stroke

Meaning of 怎么

  1. zěn me Traditional 怎麼
    • how?
    • what?
    • why?
  2. zěn me Traditional 怎麽
    • variant of 怎麼|怎么[zen3 me5]

Radicals of the characters

怎
Radical 心 (Kangxi radical 61) · 9 strokes · 乍 on top, 心 below
么
Radical 丿 (Kangxi radical 4) · 3 strokes

Radicals and stroke counts: Unicode Unihan database. Structure: the shapes a character is written with (BabelStone IDS), not necessarily parts that carry meaning or sound.

怎么 in our stories

Preview version — Chinese review in progress.

  • 他问一位老奶奶:“请问,书店怎么走?”

    tā wèn yí wèi lǎonǎinai qǐngwèn shūdiàn zěnme zǒu

    He asks an old lady, "Excuse me, how do I get to the bookshop?"

    From the story How do I get to the bookshop? HSK 2

  • 可是第一位投资人听完,只问了一个问题:“你们怎么知道大家真的愿意借给陌生人?”

    kěshì dì-yī wèi tóuzīrén tīng wán zhǐ wèn le yí gè wèntí nǐmen zěnme zhīdao dàjiā zhēnde yuànyì jiè gěi mòshēngrén

    But the first investor heard them out and asked just one question: "How do you know people really want to lend to strangers?"

    From the story Fifty sheets of paper HSK 5

  • 离交毕业论文只剩两个星期了,潘杰的电脑突然黑屏,怎么也打不开。

    lí jiāo bìyè lùnwén zhǐ shèng liǎng gè xīngqī le Pān Jié de diànnǎo tūrán hēi píng zěnme yě dǎ bù kāi

    With only two weeks left before his thesis was due, Pan Jie's computer suddenly went black and wouldn't start.

    From the story Mending the fold after the sheep is lost HSK 5

Stories using 怎么

Dictionary data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Stroke data: Hanzi Writer data, derived from Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License). Animation: Hanzi Writer (MIT licence). Radicals and stroke counts: Unicode Unihan (Unicode License v3).