Three uses of Chinese character “嘛”

嘛 (ma) is a particle used to indicate that something is obvious or self-evident in Chinese. It sounds the same as the question particle 吗 (ma) and 呢 (ne) in Chinese grammar, but has a different purpose.

"嘛 (ma)"在中文里是个小品词，表示某事很明显或不言而喻的意思。这个词听起来有点类似中文语法里的疑问小品词"吗 (ma)"和"呢 (ne)"，不过用法不一样。

嘛 as a sentence particle

嘛 often appears as a sentence particle. That simply means a particle that goes on the end of a sentence.

"嘛"经常作为句子的小品词出现。简单来说，就是放于句尾的小品词。

Stating the obvious with 嘛

Probably the most common use of 嘛 is to indicate that something is obvious or self-evident. In English you might use "of course" to express the same meaning.

"嘛"的最普通的用法可能就是指示某事很明显或者不言而喻。英文里，你应该可以用"of course"来表达同样的意思。

嘛 is often used in this way as a response to some sort of situation or something someone else said. The speaker wants to point out that the statement is obviously the case. This is demonstrated in each of the example sentences below. The second speaker uses 嘛 to respond to something the first speaker says:

"嘛"的这种使用方式经常是表示对某种情况或者他人所说的某事的反应。说话者想指出该陈述的事情是很明显的。以下的例子阐明了这种用法，其中第二位说话者用"嘛"对第一位说话者所说的作出反应：

-你怎么穿了那么多衣服呢？

Nǐ zěnme chuānle nàme duō yīfú ne?

Why have you got so many clothes on?

-今天天很冷嘛。

Jīntiān tiān hěn lěng ma.

Because it's cold today!

-你怎么出了那么多汗呢？

Nǐ zěnme chūle nàme duō hàn ne?

Why are you so sweaty?

-这些东西很重嘛。

Zhèxiē dōngxi hěn zhòng ma.

These things are really heavy, alright?

-他怎么这样呢？

Tā zěnme zhèyàng ne?

What did he do that for?

-小孩子不懂事儿嘛。

Xiǎoháizi bù dǒngshìr ma.

Of course little kids don't understand stuff like that.

The second speaker thinks that the explanation is obvious and should definitely be accepted by the listener.

第二位说话者认为事情的缘由很明显，且听者理所当然要接受。

Have a look at some more example sentences for 嘛 indicating that something is self-evident.

看看其他一些表明"嘛"指示某事不言而喻的用法。

我很累嘛。

Wǒ hěn lèi ma.

I'm tired, alright?

这个很难懂嘛。

Zhège hěn nán dǒng ma.

This is hard to understand!

Stating an expectation or request with 嘛

Another common use of 嘛 is to mark an expectation or request. 嘛 marks requests that the speaker thinks are entirely reasonable or to be expected.

另一个"嘛"的普遍用法是强调期望或请求。"嘛"强调了说话者认为完全合理或应该期望的请求。

你不要走这么快嘛。

Nǐ bùyào zǒu zhème kuài ma.

Can you not walk so fast?

你快点嘛！

Nǐ kuài diǎn ma!

Can you hurry up?

你想看电影就自己去嘛。

Nǐ xiǎng kàn diànyǐng jiù zìjǐ qù ma.

If you want to see a film, just go and see one yourself.

嘛 as a topic marker

The next major use of 嘛is as a topic-marker.

下一个"嘛"的主要用法是作为话题指示词。

First you say the topic, then you comment on it. 嘛 often comes after the topic.

首先你说出话题，然后加以评论。"嘛"经常就用在话题的后面。

You could simply see 嘛 as a way of pausing to think about what one is going to say. The speaker says what they're going to speak about, pauses to think with 嘛, then gives the information.

你可以简单把"嘛"当做思考接下来要说什么而停顿的作用。说话者提出他们要讨论的话题，然后用上"嘛"进行思考，再给出信息。

[topic] 嘛 [comment]

[话题] 嘛 [评论]

Example

例子

这个嘛，我也不知道。

Zhège ma, wǒ yě bù zhīdào.

That… I don't know either.

小孩子嘛，都喜欢玩儿。

Xiǎo háizi ma, dōu xǐhuan wánr.

Little kids all like to play.

嘛 meaning ‘what'

嘛 can also mean ‘what' in certain situations. There are many ways to use 嘛 to mean ‘what', but we'll just look at the most common here.

"嘛"在一些具体的语境下也可以表示"what"的意思。"嘛"有很多用法可以表示"what"，不过这里我们就看一些最为常见的。

干嘛 (gànmá)

The character 嘛 appears very commonly in the phrase 干嘛, literally "doing what". 干嘛 can be used to mean simply "what are you doing", or it can be used to question a behaviour. In either case, 干嘛 is quite casual and should not be used in formal situations.

"嘛"这个字经常出现在词组"干嘛"里，意思是"做什么"。"干嘛"可以用于表示"你在做什么"，或用于质疑某种行为。不管哪种情况，"干嘛"都是个比较随意的词，不好在正式场合里使用。

First, some example sentences where 干嘛means "doing what":

首先是一些"干嘛"表示"做什么"的例句：

你明天要干嘛？

Nǐ míngtiān yào gànmá?

What are you doing tomorrow?

你在北京都干嘛了？

Nǐ zài běijīng dū gànmá le?

What did you do in Beijing?

这个东西是干嘛的？

Zhège dōngxi shì gànmá de?

What's this thing for?

干嘛 can also be used to ask about actions or functions without making any comment on them.

"干嘛"也可以用于询问动作或功能，并且不作任何评论。

你干嘛这样？

Nǐ gànmá zhèyàng?

Why are you being like this?

干嘛一直担心这个？

Gànmá yīzhí dānxīn zhège?

What's the point of worrying about it all the time?

你说这个干嘛？

Nǐ shuō zhège gànmá?

What did you say that for?