HSK 3.0 Level 1 · Things

事 shì “matter” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 事 means

  1. matter
  2. thing
  3. item
  4. work
  5. affair

Measure word 件 jiàn or 桩 zhuāng · 一件事 yí jiàn shì

How to say 事

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale事shì4th tone, falling

事 in a sentence

  1. 我有一点儿事。

    Wǒ yǒu yìdiǎnr shì.

    I have something on.

    Sentence #7817198 from Tatoeba

  2. 我真喜欢我做的事。

    Wǒ zhēn xǐhuan wǒ zuò de shì.

    I really like what I do.

    Sentence #5983589 from Tatoeba

  3. 我什么事都没有做。

    Wǒ shénme shì dōu méiyǒu zuò.

    I didn’t do anything.

    Sentence #2028056 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 事 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 事 (shì) with each of its parts in a different colour
事shìmatter
  • 一one · yī
  • 口mouth · kǒu
  • 彐snout · jì
  • 亅hook · jué

How to write 事

事 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 事

Words with 事

没事méishì · it’s nothing事情shìqing · matter同事tóngshì · colleague故事gùshi · story从事cóngshì · to engage in人事rénshì · personnel军事jūnshì · military affairs事实shìshí · fact事物shìwù · thing事先shìxiān · in advance

More words: Things & Objects

电话diànhuà · telephone男朋友nánpéngyou · boyfriend女朋友nǚpéngyou · girlfriend小朋友xiǎopéngyǒu · child有点儿yǒudiǎnr · slightly雨yǔ · rain床chuáng · bed油yóu · oil

FAQs

事 (shì) means “matter” or “thing”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word.
Say it shì: shì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 事 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 件 (jiàn) or 桩 (zhuāng). For example, one matter is 一件事 (yí jiàn shì).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 事 from the suggestions. Typing shi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
事 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.