Ending a non-exhaustive list with "shenme de"

什么的(shénme de) is an informal way to express "etc.", and used to end a list of items when it is obvious to the listener what class of things the speaker is talking about.It can also be used after a single item if it is obvious enough what might follow.

Structure

List + 什么的

Examples

• 欧洲 有 哪 些 国家? 法国，英国，德国 什么 的。 反正 都 是 些 小 国家！Which countries are in Europe? France, England, Germany, etc. Anyway, they are all small countries!
• 像 数学 啊，化学 啊，英语 啊 什么的，我 都 觉得 超级 无聊，不 想 学！Math, chemistry, English, and so on. I think they are all really boring. I don't want to study them!
• 游泳 啊 什么的 对 身体 有 好处。Swimming and such is good for the body.

It can be a little impolite to use 什么的 after a list of peoples names, in which case 等 can be used in place of 什么的. When referring to a list of friends in informal contexts there is no problem using 什么的.

See also

• Listing Things with "a"
• Non-exhaustive lists with "dengdeng"
• "Stuff like that" with "zhileide"

Sources and further reading

Books

• Chinese Grammar - Broken down into 100 items - Basic and Intermediate Levels (汉语语法百项讲练 - 初中级) (pp.304-7) →buy
• Integrated Chinese: Level 2, Part 1 (pp.121) →buy
• 卓越汉语－公司实战篇 (pp. 122-3) →buy