HSK 2 · Time

一起 yìqǐ “together” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 一起 means

  1. together
  2. (in) the same place
  3. in company (with)
  4. altogether
  5. in total
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • an instance of
  • a case of (murder, accident, dispute etc)

How to say 一起

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale一yì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale起qǐ3rd tone, dipping

Tone change. 一 is yī on its own. Before a fourth tone it becomes yí, and before the other tones yì. Textbooks write the change in, as here. How tone changes work

一起 in a sentence

  1. 下午一起去游泳吧。

    Xiàwǔ yìqǐ qù yóuyǒng ba.

    Let’s go swimming together this afternoon.

    Sentence #337224 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我想和她一起去看电影。

    Wǒ xiǎng hé tā yìqǐ qù kàn diànyǐng.

    I’d like to go to the movies with her.

    Sentence #12686388 from Tatoeba

  3. 你为什么不和我们一起来？

    Nǐ wèishénme bù hé wǒmen yìqǐ lái?

    Why aren’t you coming with us?

    Sentence #1776630 from Tatoeba

How 一起 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 一 (yī) drawn as one shape
一yīoneyì in 一起

一 is a single shape of 1 stroke. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidOne stroke for one, the way people once counted with rods.

The character 起 (qǐ) with each of its parts in a different colour
起qǐto rise
  • 走walk · zǒuMeaning part
  • 己self · jǐSound part

走 hints at the meaning (walk); 己 (jǐ) hints at the sound. Compare it with qǐ.

How to write 一起

一 1 strokes · 起 10 strokes

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

一起 (yìqǐ) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 一起 (yìqǐ). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 一起

Words with 一

一yī · one一半yībàn · half一些yīxiē · some一点儿yìdiǎnr · a little第一dìyī · first一下yíxià · (after a verb) briefly一般yìbān · general一定yídìng · surely一共yígòng · altogether一样yíyàng · the same

Words with 起

对不起duìbuqǐ · sorry起床qǐchuáng · to get up起qǐ · to rise起飞qǐfēi · take off in an aeroplane起来qǐlai · beginning or continuing an action引起yǐnqǐ · to give rise to看不起kànbuqǐ · to look down upon了不起liǎobuqǐ · amazing起初qǐchū · at first起草qǐcǎo · to draft

More words: Time

小时xiǎoshí · hour早上zǎoshang · morning晚上wǎnshang · evening时间shíjiān · time已经yǐjīng · already正在zhèngzài · in the process of还hái · still就jiù · then

FAQs

一起 (yìqǐ) means “together” or “(in) the same place”. It is an HSK 2 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it yìqǐ: yì with a 4th tone, then qǐ with a 3rd tone. 一 is yī on its own. Before a fourth tone it becomes yí, and before the other tones yì. Textbooks write the change in, as here. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 一起 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yiqi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 一起 from the suggestions. Typing yiqi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
一起 is an HSK 2 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.