Meaning
(a modal particle)
Chinese: 语气助词。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “ma” becomes a different word in each tone. 嘛 is the 5. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Note: 嘛 itself is the neutral (light) tone — short and unstressed.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 要嘛yào maeither ...; or ...
- 干嘛gàn máwhat are you doing?; whatever for?; why on earth?
- 喇嘛lǎ malama, spiritual teacher in Tibetan Buddhism
- 喇嘛庙lǎ ma miàolamasery; temple of Tibetan Buddhism
Example Sentence
这道题很简单嘛，你一定能做出来。Zhè dào tí hěn jiǎn dān ma, nǐ yí dìng néng zuò chū lái.This problem is easy; you can surely solve it.
这Zhèthis道dàoroad题títopic很hěnvery简单jiǎn dānsimple嘛ma(Tw) (coll.) what?，你nǐyou一定yí dìngsurely能néngcan做出zuò chūto put out来láito come。