The Mandarin Chinese word for “what” is shénme. It is most commonly used as a question word, but can also be used in certain expressions like méi shén me - 沒甚麼 (it doesn’t matter).

Shénme has two characters: 甚麼. The first character shén 甚 means “what” and the second character is a non-independent particle which is always used in conjunction with other characters.

Shénme occurs after the verb it references, or when used with a noun, can appear at the beginning of the phrase.
Examples of Shénme

    Nǐ yào chī shénme?
    你要吃甚麼?
    你要吃甚麼?
    What do you want to eat?

    Shénme dìfang bǐjiào hǎo wán?
    甚麼地方比較好玩?
    甚麼地方比較好玩?
    What place is fun?