what
The identity of a thing, as an answer to a question of whatThe identity of a thing, as an answer to a question of what.
» I don't know what you mean.
Ich weiß nicht, was du meinst. — kroko
Я не понимаю, что ты имеешь в виду. — zmoo
Я не знаю, что ты имеешь в виду. — r381318
Я не знаю, что вы имеете в виду. — marafon
Я не знаю, що ти маєш на увазі. — triantafillou
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
3 senses(countable)The identity of a thing, as an answer to a question of what.
(countable)Something that is addressed by what, as opposed to a person, addressed by who.
2012, "We Are Both", season 2, episode 2 of Once Upon a Time Regina: What are you? Rumplestiltskin: What? What? What? My, my, what a rude question! I am not a what.
(obsolete, uncountable)Something; thing; stuff.
Examples
82339 sentencesI don't know what you mean.
Я не знаю, що ти маєш на увазі. — triantafillou
ruЯ не понимаю, что ты имеешь в виду. — zmoo
deIch weiß nicht, was du meinst. — kroko
I don't get what you mean.
Не розумію, що ти маєш на увазі. — brambury
ruЯ не понимаю, что вы имеете в виду. — Biga
deIch weiß nicht, was du meinst. — kroko
I didn't know what to say.
Я не знав, що сказати. — deniko
ruЯ не знал, что сказать. — odexed
deIch wusste nicht, was ich sagen soll. — riotlake
I didn't hear what you said.
Я не чув, що ти сказав. — Internecivus
ruЯ не расслышал, что Вы сказали. — Hotaru
deIch habe nicht gehört, was du gesagt hast. — Sudajaengi
This is just what I wanted.
Саме цього я й хотів. — deniko
ruЭто как раз то, чего я хотел. — sharptoothed
deDas ist genau das, was ich wollte. — Wolf
Origin
From Middle English what, from Old English hwæt (“what”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwat,From Middle English what, from Old English hwæt (“what”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwat, from Proto-Germanic *hwat (“what”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷód (“what”), neuter form of *kʷós (“who”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: whatsLessons for this word
2 lessons- C1Cleft sentences — Because the lesson uses it
- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.