# Ni zhen me xiang (Ni zen me xiang)



## Lupen The Third

Hello!

Would please somebody tell me which are the ideograms for the sentence 
"Ni zhen me xiang?"

My try:

你[?]么想?

Any help would be very appreciated!


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## xiaolijie

There is no "Ni zhen me xiang?". 
I think there is a typo in it and you probably mean 你这么想？(Ni zheme xiang?" ) or 你怎么想? (Ni zenme xiang?), which is more likely. Tell me in English what you mean to say by "Ni zhen me xiang?"


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## Lupen The Third

I meant something like "What do you think of it?".

And I believe that the good expression is 你怎么想? (Ni zenme xiang?), as you said!

Isn't it?

Xiè Xiè again


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## xiaolijie

Yes, it is!


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## Lupen The Third

Thank you very much Xiaolijie!

I was worng saying "Zhen" maybe for the same reason of "Heng" in the thread "How are you?"... there's a letter which should not be there...maybe for the phenomenon called "sound assimilation" that you have already explained in the other thread.

ルパン三世


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## xiaolijie

> there's a letter which should not be there...maybe for the phenomenon called "sound assimilation" that you have already explained in the other thread.


No, here it's just a typo or mishearing . Sound assimilation is a case where two sounds adjacent to one another get more like each other in articulation in order to facilitate the ease of speaking.


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## Lupen The Third

Oh, I got it!
Thank you again


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## imi_mirror

it's only my personal opnion. 
Use "你怎么认为" (ni zen me ren wei) is better than (ni zen me xian). or maybe "你是怎么想的"(ni shi zen me xiang de)。


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## Aoyama

> 你怎么认为


 would be closer to "what do you believe" ?
For 你是怎么想的, I find it a bit strange (to be confirmed) ...


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## xiaolijie

> (你怎么认为) would be closer to "what do you believe" ?
> For 你是怎么想的, I find it a bit strange (to be confirmed) ...


Both are perfectly fine for "What do you think (of it)?"


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## Lupen The Third

Thank you again to everybody!


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## BODYholic

From where I am, 你怎么认为 sounds a bit off!? Colloquially, we simply say 你认为呢？

In Chinese, 你是怎么想的? is rather tricky because it is commonly use without expecting an answer. It's akin to English's "What's the matter with you?" and in an interrogative way.

If you are sincerely interested in someone's thought/ideas, you should say 你有什么想法/看法？


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## samanthalee

BODYholic said:


> In Chinese, 你是怎么想的? is rather tricky because it is commonly use without expecting an answer. It's akin to English's "What's the matter with you?" and in an interrogative way.


What BODYholic has described here is how we use "你是怎么想的?!" in our region (ie. Singapore/Malaysia).

I have heard "你是怎么想的?" used to mean "What are your thoughts (on this)?" [we usually say "你有什么看法" instead]. This usage sense of  "你是怎么想的" , as BODYholic has observed, is not colloquial to our region, but it doesn't mean it is wrong, of course.


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## Lupen The Third

All these differences between regions are getting me a little bit off to be honest 

I'll need a looot of time before learning well something in Mandarin!

Thank you!


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## Geysere

BODYholic said:


> In Chinese, 你是怎么想的? is rather tricky because it is commonly use without expecting an answer. It's akin to English's "What's the matter with you?" and in an interrogative way.


I think it all depends on the intonation. In mainland China 你是怎么想的? is a common way to ask for opinions, if spoken with a rising, questioning tone.

On the other hand, 你是怎么想的! spoken with a falling, blaming tone means "How could you have thought that way! (There must be something wrong with you)"


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## BODYholic

Thank you. 


Geysere said:


> I think it all depends on the intonation. In mainland China 你是怎么想的? is a common way to ask for opinions, if spoken with a rising, questioning tone.
> 
> On the other hand, 你是怎么想的! spoken with a falling, blaming tone means "How could you have thought that way! (There must be something wrong with you)"


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