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Lesson 53 of 54

怎么回事 in Context

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怎么回事

Usage 1 - "what’s it all about? what’s up with that? what’s going on": 

Sentence

你这是怎么回事? 

English:

What's wrong with you?


*Sentence

怎么回事?你儿子怎么哭了?

English:

What happened? Why is your son crying?



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Comments   2

Micaela Ellison

你这是怎么回事?

I'm not sure I understand how we get the meaning "what's wrong" here. Is 怎么回事 generally used in the negative sense, as in "what negative thing happened?" Or can the question also be used in a neutral sense to ask about an event, etc? Also, what's the difference between 怎么回事 and 怎么了?

REPLY

Mandarin Blueprint

怎么回事 is more like “what (negative thing) happened" or "what's going on?" and 怎么了 is more "what's up/wrong?"

the 这是 in the middle is for emphasis.

REPLY