HSK 4 · Verbs

鼓励 gǔlì “to encourage” in Chinese

Traditional 鼓勵

What 鼓励 means

  1. to encourage

How to say 鼓励

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale鼓gǔ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale励lì4th tone, falling

鼓励 in a sentence

  1. 爸爸一直都在鼓励他。

    Bàba yìzhí dōu zài gǔlì tā.

    Dad has always encouraged him.

    Sentence #382447 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我的父亲鼓励我去学钢琴。

    Wǒ de fùqīn gǔlì wǒ qù xué gāngqín.

    My father encouraged me to learn the piano.

    Sentence #13922391 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我鼓励学生们更努力地学习。

    Wǒ gǔlì xuéshengmen gèng nǔlì de xuéxí.

    I encouraged my students to study harder.

    Sentence #2254413 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 鼓励 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 鼓 (gǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
鼓gǔdrum
  • 壴drum · zhùMeaning part
  • 支branch · zhīSound part

壴 hints at the meaning (drum); 支 (zhī) hints at the sound. Compare it with gǔ.

The character 励 (lì) with each of its parts in a different colour
励lìto encourage
  • 厉whetstone · lìSound part
  • 力strength · lìMeaning part

力 hints at the meaning (strength); 厉 (lì) hints at the sound. Compare it with lì.

How to write 鼓励

鼓 13 strokes · 励 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 鼓励

Words with 鼓

鼓掌gǔzhǎng · to applaud鼓舞gǔwǔ · to inspire鼓动gǔdòng · to stir up

Words with 励

激励jīlì · to encourage勉励miǎnlì · to encourage奖励jiǎnglì · to reward

More words: Common Verbs

赶gǎn · to hurry购物gòuwù · shopping够gòu · enough估计gūjì · to estimate挂guà · to hang (on a hook or wall)广播guǎngbō · broadcast逛guàng · to stroll好像hǎoxiàng · as if

FAQs

鼓励 (gǔlì) means “to encourage”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it gǔlì: gǔ with a 3rd tone, then lì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 鼓励 is written 鼓勵. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type guli with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 鼓励 from the suggestions. Typing guli into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
鼓励 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.