My coworker said something was “lípǔ,”and I asked, “What does that mean?”Let’s learn how to say “What does … mean?” in Chinese.

什么叫…？ (shénme jiào …?)

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

昨天我和同事聊天，他突然说：“哎，这件事很‘离谱’。”
Zuótiān wǒ hé tóngshì liáotiān, tā tūrán shuō: “Āi, zhè jiàn shì hěn ‘lípǔ’.”Yesterday I was chatting with a coworker, and he suddenly said, “Wow, this thing is so ‘lípǔ’.”

我一听有点儿懵，就问他：“什么叫‘离谱’？”
Wǒ yì tīng yǒudiǎnr mēng, jiù wèn tā: “Shénme jiào ‘lípǔ’?”I didn’t quite get it and asked, “What does ‘lípǔ’ mean?”

他笑着说：“就是很奇怪、很不正常的意思。”
Tā xiào zhe shuō: “Jiùshì hěn qíguài, hěn bù zhèngcháng de yìsi.”He laughed and said, “It means something very strange or unreasonable.”

我点点头，说：“啊，原来是这样！”
Wǒ diǎn diǎn tóu, shuō: “A, yuánlái shì zhèyàng!”I nodded and said, “Ah, I see!”