HSK 1 · Common Verbs

说 shuō “to speak” in Chinese

Traditional 說

What 说 means

  1. to speak, say
  2. to talk
  3. to explain
  4. to comment
  5. to scold
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to tell off
  • (bound form) theory
  • doctrine

How to say 说

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

说 in a sentence

  1. 他对你说了些什么？

    Tā duì nǐ shuō le xiē shénme?

    What did he say to you?

    Sentence #3526231 from Tatoeba

  2. 她对我说，“我喜欢你”。

    Tā duì wǒ shuō, "Wǒ xǐhuan nǐ".

    She said “I like you” to me.

    Sentence #8936648 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 你什么都没跟他说？

    Nǐ shénme dōu méi gēn tā shuō?

    You didn’t tell him anything?

    Sentence #502756 from Tatoeba

How 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 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 说

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.

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

Words related to 说

Words with 说

说话shuōhuà · to speak听说tīngshuō · to hear (it said that)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: Common Verbs

去qù · to go来lái · to come看kàn · to look听tīng · to listen读dú · to read写xiě · to write认识rènshi · to know (someone)喜欢xǐhuan · to like

FAQs

说 (shuō) means “to speak, say” or “to talk”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it shuō: 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, 说 is written 說. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shuo with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 说 from the suggestions. Typing shuo into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
说 is an HSK 1 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.