HSK 3.0 Level 3 · Speaking

听说 tīngshuō “to hear (it said that)” in Chinese

Traditional 聽說

What 听说 means

  1. to hear (it said that)
  2. it is said that
  3. to hear (sth said)
  4. one hears (that)
  5. hearsay
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • listening and speaking

How to say 听说

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale听tīng1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale说shuō1st tone, high and level

听说 in a sentence

  1. 好久不见。听说你又换工作了？

    Hǎojiǔ bú jiàn. Tīngshuō nǐ yòu huàn gōngzuò le?

    Long time no see. I hear you’ve changed jobs again?

    Sentence #8742129 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我听说过那个故事。

    Wǒ tīngshuō guo nà ge gùshi.

    I’ve heard that story.

    Sentence #2182956 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我听说他打麻将很厉害。

    Wǒ tīngshuō tā dǎ májiàng hěn lìhai.

    I hear he’s very good at mahjong.

    Sentence #333497 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 听说 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 听 (tīng) with each of its parts in a different colour
听tīngto listen to; to hear
  • 口mouth · kǒu
  • 斤axe · jīn

Memory aidMouth 口 with 斤 (jīn) for the sound. The full form 聽 has an ear 耳 in it: to listen.

The character 说 (shuō) with each of its parts in a different colour
说shuōto speak; to talk; to say
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 兑cash · duìSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 兑 (duì) hints at the sound. Compare it with shuō.

How to write 听说

听 7 strokes · 说 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 听说

Words with 听

听tīng · to listen听见tīngjiàn · to hear好听hǎotīng · pleasant to hear难听nántīng · unpleasant to hear打听dǎting · to ask about倾听qīngtīng · to listen attentively

Words with 说

说shuō · to speak说话shuōhuà · to speak说明shuōmíng · to explain小说xiǎoshuō · novel胡说húshuō · to talk nonsense据说jùshuō · it is said that说服shuōfú · to persuade传说chuánshuō · legend说不定shuōbudìng · can’t say for sure学说xuéshuō · theory

More words: Speaking & Communication

怎么办zěnmebàn · what should I do?聊liáo · to chat邮件yóujiàn · mail邮箱yóuxiāng · email inbox加油jiāyóu · to cheer on提出tíchū · to put forward晚安wǎn'ān · good night祝zhù · to wish (someone well)

FAQs

听说 (tīngshuō) means “to hear (it said that)” or “it is said that”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word.
Say it tīngshuō: tīng with a 1st tone, then shuō with a 1st 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, 听说 is written 聽說. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type tingshuo with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 听说 from the suggestions. Typing tingshuo into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
听说 is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 4 word list. It is not on the older 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.