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B1 · Grammar reference · ASG7ED89

Expressing "some" with question words

Chinese question words can play a double role. As we know, they are used in questions, but they can also mean "some." The "some" we refer to is the vague, undefined "some," as in "somewhere," "someone," "something," or "sometime."

Keywords
哪儿 · 谁 · 什么 · 什么时候 · some · somewhere · someone · something · somehow · sometime
Used for
Classification
HSK3

Examples (12)

这个人我在哪儿见过。

这首歌我在哪儿听过。

这篇文章我们在哪儿看过。

你让谁来帮我一下。

这件事我听谁说过。

你找谁带你进去吧。

我们应该做点儿什么。

老大,你不说点儿什么?

我想喝点儿什么。

什么时候我们见面谈吧。

什么时候来我新家玩吧。

我们什么时候去看看他吧。

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Full explanation at AllSet Learning

Summary, structure, classification, and adapted sentence examples draw from the AllSet Learning Chinese Grammar Wiki under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0; changes were made. This noncommercial reference is based on an October 2023 snapshot.

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