你说什么？
nǐ shuō shénme?
In Chinese, "what did you say?" is translated as 你说什么？ (nǐ shuō shénme?)
你说什么？ is used when you did not hear or understand what someone just said. It can be used to ask someone to repeat themselves due to poor hearing, or to express shock or indignation at something that was just said.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of 你 (you), 说 (say) and 什么 (what).
Which one should you use?
你刚才说什么？ specifically means "What did you just say?" and is also informal.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
你说什么？ is an informal way to say "What did you say?" If you want to be more respectful when addressing elders or superiors, you should replace 你 (nǐ) with 您 (nín) to say 您说什么？ For a formal request to repeat something, use 请再说一遍, which means "Please say it again."
How do you pronounce it?
nǐ shuō shénme?
Did you know?
- Chinese has no verb tenses, so 你说什么？ doesn't actually change its form whether you are asking what someone is saying right now or what they said ten minutes ago.
- If you say 你说什么？ with a rising, sharp tone, you might sound like you are challenging someone to a fight rather than asking for clarification.
- In casual speech, people often replace the full phrase with a single syllable 啥 (shá) to ask 你说啥？, a form most common in Northern China.
Examples in context
- 你说什么？Nǐ shuō shénme?What did you say?
- 对不起，你说什么？Duìbuqǐ, nǐ shuō shénme?Sorry, what did you say?
- 刚才你说什么？Gāngcái nǐ shuō shénme?What did you just say?
Example conversation
Two friends are talking in a noisy cafe.
- 浩然 Haoran我们明天去公园吧。Wǒmen míngtiān qù gōngyuán ba.Let's go to the park tomorrow.
- 梓涵 Zihan你说什么？这里太吵了。Nǐ shuō shénme? Zhèlǐ tài chǎo le.What did you say? It's too noisy here.
- 浩然 Haoran我说，明天去公园！Wǒ shuō, míngtiān qù gōngyuán!I said, let's go to the park tomorrow!
- 梓涵 Zihan好的，没问题。Hǎo de, méi wèntí.Okay, no problem.
