<p>敢吗？= Dare you? = gǎn ma?</p>
<p>干嘛? = What's up? What are you doing? = gàn má?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-04T16:15:22.370Z
So you mean you don't pronounce them the same, but a little bit different.
O Connor
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-04T19:27:05.830Z
@OConnor The tones are different.
monalisa
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-10T14:57:48.783Z
Can I rely on the Phonetics e.g. `gǎn ma`, `gàn má` provided by Google Translation to determine which tone a Mandarin character/word has?
O Connor
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-12T20:52:30.527Z
@OConnor I would assume most of Google Translate's phonetic annotations are good especially when the character is in a word or phrase. Do notice, that some characters have multiple pronunciations when combined into different words and often have different meanings in such cases.
bfrguci
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-04T12:27:30.363Z
2021-03-04T12:27:30.363Z
Herbert
<p>No.<br />
“敢吗” is pronounce as “gǎn mā” or “gǎn ·ma”. “敢吗” means “dare you”, “XXX敢吗” means “dare XXX”.<br />
“干嘛” has 3 possible pronunciations, “gàn má”, “gàn mā” and “gàn ·ma”. When it be pronounced as “gàn má”, it may mean “what are you doing”, “do what”. When it be pronounced as “gàn mā” or “gàn ·ma”, it may mean “would you like to do it”.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-30T09:10:31.790Z
IMHO, 嘛 is not a 疑问语气助词 here. It is the same as "什么". So if one wants to express "would you like to do it", it should say "干(gàn)吗(ma)". 干嘛 is pronounced as gàn mā only in Northern Dialect. Willing to hear your reply.
T-Pioneer
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-09-09T13:18:39.037Z
@T-Pioneer "嘛" is a Chinese character whose meaning is similar to "吗".  For example, "好嘛" means similar to "好吗".
Chen-Y0y0
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-27T15:34:35.000Z
2021-08-27T16:03:45.520Z
2021-08-27T16:03:45.520Z
Chen-Y0y0
<pre><code>敢吗？= Dare you?
干嘛? = What's up? What are you doing?
</code></pre>
<p>Do you pronounce them both the same and depending on the context, people can understand what you mean?</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>Do you pronounce them both a little bit differently which new beginners can hardly hear the difference?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-04T20:16:45.573Z
It's unclear if you know about tones or not. If you do, I hope you don't feel offended by my comment, but the way you word your question makes it sound like you might not know how tones work. Do you think that 买(mǎi) “to buy" sounds "a little bit different" from "卖 (mài) "to sell" too? What about other things that only differ in tone? If you indeed think these are only minor differences, you need to go through a basic description of tones! I wrote a fairly extensive guide here: https://www.hackingchinese.com/the-hacking-chinese-guide-to-mandarin-tones
Olle Linge
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-10T15:01:36.207Z
Yes I know about the 4 tones `ā`, `á`, `ǎ` and `à`. Can I rely on the Phonetics e.g. `mǎi`, `mài` provided by Google Translation to determine which tone a Mandarin character/word has?
O Connor
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-10T15:38:17.863Z
Mostly, but using a dictionary is more reliable.
Olle Linge
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-10T15:44:39.713Z
So I better have a Mandarin dictionary which includes tones.
O Connor
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-11T09:11:51.583Z
All dictionaries have tones. Here are some suggestions: https://www.hackingchinese.com/21-essential-dictionaries-and-corpora-for-learning-chinese/
Olle Linge
<pronunciation>
Do you pronounce 敢吗？and 干嘛? the same?
# Do you pronounce 敢吗？and 干嘛? the same?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-03-04)

```
敢吗？= Dare you?
干嘛? = What's up? What are you doing?

```

Do you pronounce them both the same and depending on the context, people can understand what you mean?

or

Do you pronounce them both a little bit differently which new beginners can hardly hear the difference?

**Tags:** pronunciation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It's unclear if you know about tones or not. If you do, I hope you don't feel offended by my comment, but the way you word your question makes it sound like you might not know how tones work. Do you think that 买(mǎi) “to buy" sounds "a little bit different" from "卖 (mài) "to sell" too? What about other things that only differ in tone? If you indeed think these are only minor differences, you need to go through a basic description of tones! I wrote a fairly extensive guide here: https://www.hackingchinese.com/the-hacking-chinese-guide-to-mandarin-tones  
> **username_0**: Yes I know about the 4 tones `ā`, `á`, `ǎ` and `à`. Can I rely on the Phonetics e.g. `mǎi`, `mài` provided by Google Translation to determine which tone a Mandarin character/word has?  
> **username_1**: Mostly, but using a dictionary is more reliable.  
> **username_0**: So I better have a Mandarin dictionary which includes tones.  
> **username_1**: All dictionaries have tones. Here are some suggestions: https://www.hackingchinese.com/21-essential-dictionaries-and-corpora-for-learning-chinese/  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-03-04. Score: 4

敢吗？= Dare you? = gǎn ma?

干嘛? = What's up? What are you doing? = gàn má?

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: So you mean you don't pronounce them the same, but a little bit different.  
> **username_3**: @username_0 The tones are different.  
> **username_0**: Can I rely on the Phonetics e.g. `gǎn ma`, `gàn má` provided by Google Translation to determine which tone a Mandarin character/word has?  
> **username_4**: @username_0 I would assume most of Google Translate's phonetic annotations are good especially when the character is in a word or phrase. Do notice, that some characters have multiple pronunciations when combined into different words and often have different meanings in such cases.  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2021-08-27. Score: 1

No.  
“敢吗” is pronounce as “gǎn mā” or “gǎn ·ma”. “敢吗” means “dare you”, “XXX敢吗” means “dare XXX”.  
“干嘛” has 3 possible pronunciations, “gàn má”, “gàn mā” and “gàn ·ma”. When it be pronounced as “gàn má”, it may mean “what are you doing”, “do what”. When it be pronounced as “gàn mā” or “gàn ·ma”, it may mean “would you like to do it”.

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: IMHO, 嘛 is not a 疑问语气助词 here. It is the same as "什么". So if one wants to express "would you like to do it", it should say "干(gàn)吗(ma)". 干嘛 is pronounced as gàn mā only in Northern Dialect. Willing to hear your reply.  
> **username_5**: @username_6 "嘛" is a Chinese character whose meaning is similar to "吗".  For example, "好嘛" means similar to "好吗".  

---

