HSK 4 · Places

首都 shǒudū “capital (city)” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 首都 means

  1. capital (city)

Measure word 个 gè · 一个首都 yí ge shǒudū

How to say 首都

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale首shǒu3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale都dū1st tone, high and level

首都 in a sentence

  1. 北京是中国的首都。

    Běijīng shì Zhōngguó de shǒudū.

    Beijing is the capital of China.

    Sentence #389050 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 澳洲的首都是什么？

    Àozhōu de shǒudū shì shénme?

    What’s the capital of Australia?

    Sentence #9453340 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 我的城市离首都五十千米。

    Wǒ de chéngshì lí shǒudū wǔshí qiānmǐ.

    My city is fifty kilometres from the capital.

    Sentence #5931763 from Tatoeba

How 首都 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 首 (shǒu) drawn as one shape
首shǒuhead

首 is a single shape of 9 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 都 (dōu) with each of its parts in a different colour
都dūcapital city
  • 者that which · zhěSound part
  • 阝placeMeaning part

阝 hints at the meaning (place); 者 (zhě) hints at the sound. Compare it with dū.

How to write 首都

首 9 strokes · 都 10 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

首都 (shǒudū) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 首都 (shǒudū). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 首都

Words with 首

首先shǒuxiān · first (of all)首shǒu · measure word for songs and poems首饰shǒushì · jewellery首要shǒuyào · foremost元首yuánshǒu · head of state

Words with 都

都dōu · all

More words: Places & Directions

郊区jiāoqū · suburban district加油站jiāyóuzhàn · petrol station客厅kètīng · drawing room (room for arriving guests)入口rùkǒu · entrance卫生间wèishēngjiān · bathroom亚洲Yàzhōu · Asia长城Chángchéng · the Great Wall长江Cháng Jiāng · Yangtze River

FAQs

首都 (shǒudū) means “capital (city)”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it shǒudū: shǒu with a 3rd tone, then dū with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 首都 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 个 (gè). For example, one capital (city) is 一个首都 (yí ge shǒudū).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shoudu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 首都 from the suggestions. Typing shoudu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
首都 is an HSK 4 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.