HSK 2 · Common Verbs

说话 shuōhuà “to speak” in Chinese

Traditional 說話

What 说话 means

  1. to speak
  2. to talk
  3. to say
  4. to gossip
  5. to tell stories

How to say 说话

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale说shuō1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale话huà4th tone, falling

说话 in a sentence

  1. 你在跟我说话吗？

    Nǐ zài gēn wǒ shuōhuà ma?

    Are you talking to me?

    Sentence #478844 from Tatoeba

  2. 妈妈说我说话太快。

    Māma shuō wǒ shuōhuà tài kuài.

    Mum says I talk too fast.

    Sentence #1776805 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我的祖父说话非常慢。

    Wǒ de zǔfù shuōhuà fēicháng màn.

    My grandfather speaks very slowly.

    Sentence #3341516 from Tatoeba

How 说话 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.

The character 话 (huà) with each of its parts in a different colour
话huàdialect
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yán
  • 舌tongue · shé

Memory aidSpeech 讠 from the tongue 舌: talk, words.

How to write 说话

说 9 strokes · 话 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 说话

Words with 说

说shuō · 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

Words with 话

电话diànhuà · telephone打电话dǎ diànhuà · to make a phone call的话dehuà · if (ends a conditional clause)对话duìhuà · dialogue笑话xiàohua · joke普通话pǔtōnghuà · Mandarin废话fèihuà · nonsense实话shíhuà · truth神话shénhuà · legend话题huàtí · subject (of a talk or conversation)

More words: Common Verbs

卖mài · to sell跑步pǎobù · to run起床qǐchuáng · to get up上班shàngbān · to go to work踢足球tīzúqiú · to play football (football)休息xiūxi · to rest找zhǎo · to look for帮助bāngzhù · to help

FAQs

说话 (shuōhuà) means “to speak” or “to talk”. It is an HSK 2 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it shuōhuà: shuō with a 1st tone, then huà 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, 说话 is written 說話. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shuohua with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 说话 from the suggestions. Typing shuohua into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
说话 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.