HSK 5 · Emotions

感激 gǎnjī “to be grateful” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 感激 means

  1. to be grateful
  2. to appreciate
  3. thankful

How to say 感激

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale感gǎn3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale激jī1st tone, high and level

感激 in a sentence

  1. 我很感激他们。

    Wǒ hěn gǎnjī tāmen.

    I’m very grateful to them.

    Sentence #826753 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我真的很感激你所做的一切。

    Wǒ zhēn de hěn gǎnjī nǐ suǒ zuò de yíqiè.

    I really appreciate everything you’ve done.

    Sentence #852215 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我打心底里感激你。

    Wǒ dǎ xīndǐ li gǎnjī nǐ.

    I’m grateful to you from the bottom of my heart.

    Sentence #4759994 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 感激 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 感 (gǎn) with each of its parts in a different colour
感gǎnto feel
  • 咸all · xián
  • 心heart · xīn

Memory aidHeart 心 with 咸 (xián) for the sound: to feel.

The character 激 (jī) with each of its parts in a different colour
激jīto arouse
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 敫ancient musical instrument · jiǎoSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 敫 (jiǎo) hints at the sound. Compare it with jī.

How to write 感激

感 13 strokes · 激 16 strokes

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

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

Words related to 感激

Words with 感

感冒gǎnmào · catch cold感到gǎndào · to feel感兴趣gǎn xìngqù · be interested in感gǎn · (suffix) sense of …感觉gǎnjué · feeling感谢gǎnxiè · (express) thanks感动gǎndòng · to be moved感情gǎnqíng · emotion感受gǎnshòu · to feel感想gǎnxiǎng · impressions

Words with 激

激动jīdòng · excited刺激cìjī · to stimulate激烈jīliè · (of competition or fighting) intense冰激凌bīngjīlíng · ice cream激发jīfā · to arouse激励jīlì · to encourage激情jīqíng · passion

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

惭愧cánkuì · ashamed操心cāoxīn · to worry about倒霉dǎoméi · to have bad luck发愁fāchóu · to worry好奇hàoqí · inquisitive恨hèn · to hate怀念huáiniàn · to cherish the memory of灰心huīxīn · to lose heart

FAQs

感激 (gǎnjī) means “to be grateful” or “to appreciate”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it gǎnjī: gǎn with a 3rd tone, then jī with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 感激 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type ganji with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 感激 from the suggestions. Typing ganji into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
感激 is an HSK 5 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.