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么 — exclamatory final particle

Pinyin
má · ma · me
Strokes
3
HSK level
HSK 1
Handwriting
required

This character has more than one reading — má, ma, me — and the pronunciation depends on the word it appears in. The list below gives the syllabus reading for each word.

How to write 么: 3 strokes

Each cell adds one stroke to the previous ones, with the new stroke in red. Stroke order is not decoration: it sets the proportions of the character and makes handwriting legible to a reader. This character is on the HSK handwriting list, so the exam expects you to write it, not only recognise it.

么 — 3 strokes, in writing order from left to right.

Build a printable practice sheet with 么

Words with 么 in the HSK syllabus: 9

Every word in the official 2026 syllabus that contains this character, with the level it is introduced at. Learning a character pays off through these: each one combines with the characters you already know.

  1. 什么shénmewhat?; something; anythingHSK 1
  2. 怎么zěnmehow?; what?; why?HSK 1
  3. 怎么样zěnmeyànghow?; how about?; how was it?; how are things?HSK 1
  4. 那么nàmelike that; in that way; to that extentHSK 2
  5. 为什么wèi shénmewhy?; for what reason?HSK 2
  6. 这么zhèmeso much; this much; how much?; this way; like thisHSK 2
  7. 怎么办zěnme bànwhat's to be doneHSK 3
  8. 多么duōmehow; what; however; how; to what extentHSK 4
  9. 要么yàomeor; either one or the otherHSK 6

Glosses come from CC-CEDICT, used under CC BY-SA 4.0, and are the dictionary’s first sense rather than a translation chosen for context.