My friend called me early this morning, and I said, “Why are you calling me so early?” Let’s learn how to say “what for / why / what are you doing” in Chinese.

干嘛 (gàn má)

Hello，大家好，我是Janine。Hello, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Janine.Hello everyone, I’m Janine.

今天早上我刚起床，Jīntiān zǎoshang wǒ gāng qǐchuáng,This morning, I had just gotten up,

我的朋友就给我打电话。wǒ de péngyou jiù gěi wǒ dǎ diànhuà.when my friend suddenly called me.

我接起电话说：Wǒ jiē qǐ diànhuà shuō:I picked up and said:

“你一大早打电话，干嘛呀？”“Nǐ yí dà zǎo dǎ diànhuà, gàn má ya?”“You’re calling me so early — what for?”

她笑着说：“我就是想跟你聊天！”Tā xiào zhe shuō: “Wǒ jiù shì xiǎng gēn nǐ liáotiān!”She laughed and said, “I just wanted to chat with you!”