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HSK 4

说什么 (shuō shí mó) — must do no matter what

说什么 (shuō shénme) / 怎么着 (zěnmezhe) + 也得 (yě děi) + Verb

HSK 43.0

Pattern diagram

说什么怎么着也得Action

Rule structure

说什么也得 (shuō shí mó yě dé)X and 怎么着也得 (zěn mó zháo yě dé)X are colloquial frames with 也得 (yě dé) expressing categorical necessity: "no matter what, one still has to X".

Examples

明天说什么也得去医院看看。

Míngtiān shuō shénme yě děi qù yīyuàn kànkan.

Tomorrow, no matter what, I still have to go to the hospital.

明天的考试说什么也得参加。

Míngtiān de kǎoshì shuō shénme yě děi cānjiā.

I must take tomorrow's exam no matter what.

Try this rule

Two short exercises: see how the rule works in a dialogue and in a sentence. No sign-up needed.

Words from this rule

说

shuō

To speak, to say, to tell

什么

shénme

What? which?

怎么

zěnme

How? in what way?

着

zhe

Particle indicating continuous action

也

yě

Also, too

得

de

Structural particle, indicates manner or result of an action

明天

míng tiān

Tomorrow

去

qù

To go

医院

yī yuàn

Hospital

看

kàn

To look, to watch, to read

的

de

Possessive particle; modifier particle

考试

kǎoshì

Exam, test

Frequently asked questions

How do you say “must do no matter what” in Chinese with 说什么?

Use the structure: 说什么 (shuō shénme) / 怎么着 (zěnmezhe) + 也得 (yě děi) + Verb. For example: 明天说什么也得去医院看看。 — “Tomorrow, no matter what, I still have to go to the hospital”.

What is an example sentence with this grammar rule?

明天说什么也得去医院看看。 — “Tomorrow, no matter what, I still have to go to the hospital”.

Which HSK level includes this grammar rule?

This grammar rule is part of HSK 3.0 Level 4.

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More HSK 3.0 Level 4 grammar rules

够 — “so… / really…” with 的

够 (gòu) + Adj. + 的 (de)

来得及 / 来不及 — having enough time

来得及 (láidejí) / 来不及 (láibují) + Verb

拿 — take as an example

拿 (ná) + Noun + 来说 (lái shuō), ...

是 — X is X, Y is Y

X + 是 (shì) + X，Y + 是 (shì) + Y

有什么 — no point in doing it

有什么 (yǒu shénme) + 好 (hǎo) + Verb + 的 (de) / 没什么 (méi shénme) + 好 (hǎo) + Verb + 的 (de)

怎么 — no matter how hard one tries

怎么 (zěnme) + (Verb) + 都 (dōu) / 也 (yě) + Negative result

还 — challenging a claim

还 (hái) + X + 呢 (ne)

你 — go ahead and do it: 你X你的吧

你 (nǐ) + Verb + 你的 (nǐ de) + 吧 (ba)