HSK 4 · Function Words

故意 gùyì “deliberately” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 故意 means

  1. deliberately
  2. on purpose

How to say 故意

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale故gù4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale意yì4th tone, falling

故意 in a sentence

  1. 你是故意这么做的!

    Nǐ shì gùyì zhème zuò de!

    You did this on purpose!

    Sentence #502755 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 那不是我故意的。

    Nà bú shì wǒ gùyì de.

    I didn’t do it on purpose.

    Sentence #8686697 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 她故意把窗户弄坏了。

    Tā gùyì bǎ chuānghu nònghuài le.

    She broke the window on purpose.

    Sentence #2635806 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 故意 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 故 (gù) with each of its parts in a different colour
故gùhappening
  • 古old · gǔSound part
  • 攵tap form of 攴 · pūMeaning part

攵 hints at the meaning (tap); 古 (gǔ) hints at the sound. Compare it with gù.

The character 意 (yì) with each of its parts in a different colour
意yìidea; thought; meaning; sense
  • 音sound · yīnSound part
  • 心heart · xīnMeaning part

心 hints at the meaning (heart); 音 (yīn) hints at the sound. Compare it with yì.

Memory aidA sound 音 from the heart 心: a thought, a meaning.

How to write 故意

故 9 strokes · 意 13 strokes

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

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

Words related to 故意

Words with 故

Words with 意

More words: Particles & Connectors

FAQs

故意 (gùyì) means “deliberately” or “on purpose”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it gùyì: gù with a 4th tone, then yì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 故意 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type guyi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 故意 from the suggestions. Typing guyi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
故意 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.