HSK 3.0 Level 1 · School

下课 xiàkè “to finish class” in Chinese

Traditional 下課

What 下课 means

  1. to finish class
  2. to get out of class
  3. (fig.) (esp. of a sports coach) to be dismissed
  4. to be fired

How to say 下课

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale下xià4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale课kè4th tone, falling

下课 in a sentence

  1. 下课了吗？

    Xiàkè le ma?

    Is class over?

    Sentence #2298602 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 你几点下课？

    Nǐ jǐ diǎn xiàkè?

    What time does your class finish?

    Sentence #2302301 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 离下课还有十分钟。

    Lí xiàkè hái yǒu shí fēnzhōng.

    There are ten minutes until the end of class.

    Sentence #4265057 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 下课 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 下 (xià) with each of its parts in a different colour
下xiàdown
  • 一one · yī
  • 卜divination · bǔ

Memory aidA short stroke below the line: down, below.

The character 课 (kè) with each of its parts in a different colour
课kèsubject
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 果fruit · guǒSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 果 (guǒ) hints at the sound. Compare it with kè.

How to write 下课

下 3 strokes · 课 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 下课

Words with 下

下xià · down下午xiàwǔ · afternoon下雨xiàyǔ · to rain下班xiàbān · to finish work一下yíxià · (after a verb) briefly下面xiàmiàn · below下去xiàqù · to go down下来xiàlai · to come down以下yǐxià · below留下liúxia · to leave behind

Words with 课

上课shàngkè · to go to class课kè · class课本kèběn · textbook课文kèwén · text (of a lesson)课程kèchéng · course课题kètí · research topic旷课kuàngkè · to skip class

More words: School & Work

汉字hànzì · Chinese character上课shàngkè · to go to class上学shàngxué · to go to school下班xiàbān · to finish work小学xiǎoxué · elementary school小学生xiǎoxuéshēng · primary school student学xué · to learn中学zhōngxué · middle school

FAQs

下课 (xiàkè) means “to finish class” or “to get out of class”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word.
Say it xiàkè: xià with a 4th tone, then kè 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, 下课 is written 下課. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xiake with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 下课 from the suggestions. Typing xiake into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
下课 is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 1 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.