Difference between 什麼 and 甚麼?

安潔莉~ An1Jie2Li4
 January 09, 2011 at 03:31 AM posted in General Discussion

So I've been reading through the transcripts, and I simply cannot figure out the difference! I've looked it up, and all it says is that 甚麼 is a variant of 什麼. Does that mean they can be used interchangably, or are there certain situations where one of them is more appropriate?

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joschka
 February 24, 2011 at 12:48 PM

Funny thing, I was just today asking my Chinese teacher about these two forms.

She told me that on the Mainland, they are considered interchangable but in Taiwan they are different. 

 什 = ten (used in fractions, writing checks etc.) / assorted / miscellaneous

 甚 = what / very / extremely / any

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安潔莉~ An1Jie2Li4
 January 10, 2011 at 01:32 AM

Oh, okay, thank you so much!

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anonymous595521
 January 09, 2011 at 07:17 PM

They can be used interchangably.