HSK 3.0 Level 3 · Modal

该 gāi “should” in Chinese

Traditional 該

What 该 means

  1. should
  2. ought to
  3. probably
  4. must be
  5. to deserve
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to owe

How to say 该

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale该gāi1st tone, high and level

该 in a sentence

  1. 有点儿晚了，我们该走了。

    Yǒudiǎnr wǎn le, wǒmen gāi zǒu le.

    It’s getting late, so we’d better get going.

    Sentence #778877 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我不知道该说什么。

    Wǒ bù zhīdao gāi shuō shénme.

    I don’t know what to say.

    Sentence #1504001 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 你病了，该休息了。

    Nǐ bìng le, gāi xiūxi le.

    You’re sick. You should rest.

    Sentence #366889 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 该 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 该 (gāi) with each of its parts in a different colour
该gāishould
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 亥part of the characterSound part

How to write 该

该 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 该

Words with 该

应该yīnggāi · should活该huógāi · serves (someone) right

More words: Modal & Auxiliary Verbs

只能zhǐnéng · can only能够nénggòu · to be able to

FAQs

该 (gāi) means “should” or “ought to”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word.
Say it gāi: gāi 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, 该 is written 該. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type gai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 该 from the suggestions. Typing gai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
该 is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 3 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.