what is that

English

English phrasebook

This entry is part of the phrasebook project, which presents criteria for inclusion based on utility, simplicity and commonness.

Alternative forms

what's that

Phrase

what is that?

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see what,‎ was,‎ that.: Asks the interlocutor to identify an indicated object.
(colloquial) What did you just say? Synonym of say again.

Translations

what is that?

Afrikaans: wat is dit?
Albanian: çfarë është kjo?
Arabic: مَا هٰذَا؟ (mā hāḏā?)
Egyptian Arabic: ايه ده؟ (ē da?), ده ايه؟ (da ē?)

Moroccan Arabic: اشنو هدا؟ (ašnu hada?)

North Levantine Arabic: شو هيدا (šu hayda), شو هاي (šu hāy)

South Levantine Arabic: شُو هَاد؟ (šu hād?), إِيش هَاد؟ (ʔēš hād?)
Armenian: այդ ի՞նչ է (ayd i^?nčʻ ē), սա ի՞նչ է (sa i^?nčʻ ē)
Asturian: ¿qué ye eso?
Azerbaijani: bu nədir?
Bashkir: был нимә? (bıl nimə?)
Belarusian: што́ гэ́та (štó héta)?, што гэ́та тако́е (što héta takóje)?
Bengali: যে কি? (je ki?)
Bulgarian: какво́ е това́? (kakvó e tová?)
Burmese: အဲဒါဘာလဲ။ (ai:dabhalai:||)
Cherokee: ᏕᏣᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᎭᏍ? (detsalvwisdanehas?)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 呢個乜嘢嚟㗎？ / 呢个乜嘢嚟㗎？ (nei¹ go³ mat¹ je⁵ lei⁴ gaa³?) (vernacular), 呢係乜嘢？ / 呢系乜嘢？ (nei¹ hai⁶ mat¹ je⁵?) (vernacular)

Hokkien: 彼個啥物？ / 彼个啥物？ (hit-ê siáⁿ-mi̍h? / hit-gê siáⁿ-mih? / hit-ê sáⁿ-mi̍h? / hit-ê siáⁿ-mí? / hit-ê siáⁿ-meh? / hit-ê sahⁿ-mi̍h?), 彼個什物 / 彼个什物 (hit-ê sím-mi̍h? / hit-ê sím-mi? / hit-ê sím-mih? / hit-ê sīm-mi̍h? / hit-ê sám-mi̍h?), 彼個何物 / 彼个何物 (hit-ê há-mi̍h?)

Mandarin: 那是什麼？ / 那是什么？ (nà shì shénme?), 這是什麼？ / 这是什么？ (zhè shì shénme?)

Wu: 搿是啥？ (⁸geq ⁶zy ⁵sa)
Chinook Jargon: ikta ukuk
Czech: co je to?
Danish: hvad er det?
Dutch: wat is dat?
Erzya: те мезе (te meze)?
Esperanto: kio estas tio?
Estonian: mis see on?
Finnish: mikä tuo on?
French: qu'est-ce que c'est ? (fr), c'est quoi ? (fr), qu'est-ce? (fr)
Galician: que é iso?
Georgian: ეს რა არის? (es ra aris?), რა არის ეს? (ra aris es?)
German: was ist das?
Alemannic German: was isch das?
Greek: τι είναι αυτό; (ti eínai aftó?)
Gujarati: શું છે (śũ che), તે શું છે (te śũ che), એ શું છે (e śũ che) (colloquial)
Hebrew: מַה זֶּה? m (ma zé), מַה זֹּאת? f (ma zót)
Hindi: यह क्या है (yah kyā hai)?
Hungarian: mi az?
Icelandic: hvað er þetta?
Ido: quo esas ito?
Indonesian: apa itu?
Irish: cad é sin?
Italian: che cosa è questo?
Japanese: これは何ですか (これはなんですか, kore wa nan desu ka), これは何？ (これはなに？, kore wa nani?) (casual), あれはなんですか (are wa nan desu ka)
Kannada: ಎಂದು ಏನು? (endu ēnu?)
Kazakh: бұл не? (būl ne?)
Khmer: ស្អី នេះ (sʼəy nih)
Korean: 이것 은 무엇 입니까? (igeos-eun mueos-imnikka?) (formal), 이게 뭐 예요? (ige mwo-yeyo?), 이게 뭐 야? (ige mwo-ya?) (informal, non-polite)
Kumyk: бу не? (bu ne?), бу недир? (bu nedir?)
Kyrgyz: бул эмне? (bul emne?)
Lao: ນີ້ແມ່ນຫຍັງ (nī mǣn nyang)
Latvian: kas tas ir?
Lithuanian: kas tai yra?
Low German:
German Low German: wat is dat?
Luxembourgish: wat ass dat?
Macedonian: што е о́ва? (što e óva?)
Malay: apakah itu?
Maltese: x’inhu dak?
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: энэ юу вэ? (ene juu ve?)
Navajo: haʼátʼíishąʼ?, haʼátʼíí átʼé?, shá yínízhí
Nogai: бу оьзи не (bu özi ne)?
Norwegian:
Bokmål: hva er det?

Nynorsk: kva er det?
Occitan: qu'es aquò?
Ojibwe: awegonen iʼiw?
Old English: hwæt is þæt?
Persian:
Iranian Persian: این چِیِه؟ (in čiye?), این چیسْت؟ (in čist?) (more formal)
Polish: co to jest?
Portuguese: o que é isso?, o que é isto?
Romanian: ce este asta?
Russian: что́ э́то (štó éto)?, что э́то тако́е (što éto takóje)?
Scottish Gaelic: dé sin?
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: шта је ово?, што је ово?, кај је ово? (Kajkavian)

Roman: šta je ovo?, što je ovo?, kaj je ovo? (Kajkavian)
Sinhalese: මේ මොකක්ද ? (mē mokakda ?)
Slovak: čo je to?
Slovene: kaj je to?
Spanish: ¿qué es eso?, ¿qué es esto?
Swedish: vad är det?
Tagalog: ano iyon? (remote from speaker and the person being addressed), ano 'yun? (remote from speaker and the person being addressed), ano iyan? (near the person being addressed)
Tajik: ин чист? (in čist?)
Tamil: அது என்ன? (atu eṉṉa?)
Tatar: бу нәрсә? (bu närsä?)
Telugu: అది ఏమిటి? (adi ēmiṭi?)
Thai: นี้อะไร (níi à-rai), นี้คือ อะไร (níi kʉʉ à-rai)
Turkish: bu nedir?
Turkmen: bu näme?
Ukrainian: що́ це (ščó ce)?, що це таке́ (ščo ce také)?
Urdu: یہ کْیا ہَے؟ (ye kyā hai?)
Uyghur: بۇ نېمە؟ (bu nëme?)
Uzbek: bu nima?
Vietnamese: cái này là gì?
Yiddish: וואָס איז דאָס? (vos iz dos?)
Yup'ik: cauga?
Zulu: yini lokho?