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How to Say ‘How / what’ in Traditional Chinese

怎麼

zěn me

[dzun muh]

💬 Usage Tip: [怎麼] can mean "how," but in questions like [怎麼了?] it means more like "what's wrong?" or "what happened?" Watch the whole chunk, not just the single-word translation.

Phrase Breakdown

怎麼

zěn me

[dzun muh]

how; why; what happened

Used to ask how something is done, why something happened, or what is wrong.

Example

你怎麼知道這件事?

How did you know about this?

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