那是什么？
nà shì shénme?
In Chinese, "what is that?" is translated as 那是什么？ (nà shì shénme?)
那是什么？ is a question used to ask for the identity of an object that is far from the speaker.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of 那 (that), 是 (is) and 什么 (what).
Which one should you use?
Use 那是什么？ to ask about an object far from the speaker, whereas 这是什么？ is used for an object close to the speaker.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Taiwanese Mandarin, you can say 那个是什麼啊？ to ask "What is that?"
How does it change in a sentence?
Unlike English, the word order for this question is the same as a statement. You do not need to invert the subject and verb to form the question.
How do you pronounce it?
nà shì shénme?
Did you know?
- In many Chinese dialects, the word 那个 (nàge), which means 'that one', is used so frequently as a filler word similar to 'um' or 'uh' that it can be hard to tell if someone is actually pointing to an object.
- In some contexts, the phrase 那个 is used as a euphemism to avoid naming something taboo or unpleasant, effectively saying 'that thing' to keep the subject vague.
- In written Chinese, the question mark ？ is used just like in English, but historically, traditional Chinese did not use a dedicated punctuation mark for questions.
Examples in context
- 那是什么？Nà shì shénme?What is that?
- 天上的那是什么？Tiānshàng de nà shì shénme?What is that in the sky?
- 桌子上的那是什么？Zhuōzi shàng de nà shì shénme?What is that on the table?
Example conversation
Jiayi and Haoran are walking in a park.
- 佳怡 Jiayi浩然，看，那是什么？Hàorán, kàn, nà shì shénme?Haoran, look, what is that?
- 浩然 Haoran那是大象。Nà shì dàxiàng.That is an elephant.
- 佳怡 Jiayi它在做什么？Tā zài zuò shénme?What is it doing?
- 浩然 Haoran它在吃草。Tā zài chī cǎo.It is eating grass.
