Useful extra · HSK 2 list

左 zuǒ “left” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 左 means

  1. left
  2. east
  3. unorthodox
  4. wrong

How to say 左

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale左zuǒ3rd tone, dipping

左 in a sentence

  1. 请在那个拐角左转。

    Qǐng zài nà ge guǎijiǎo zuǒ zhuǎn.

    Please turn left at that corner.

    Sentence #3630206 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 经过银行，左边就是他的办公室了。

    Jīngguò yínháng, zuǒbian jiù shì tā de bàngōngshì le.

    Go past the bank, and his office is right there on the left.

    Sentence #487705 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 谁跟你说用左手写字的？

    Shéi gēn nǐ shuō yòng zuǒshǒu xiězì de?

    Who told you to write with your left hand?

    Sentence #1312415 from Tatoeba

How 左 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 左 (zuǒ) drawn as one shape
左zuǒleft

左 is a single shape of 5 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 左

左 5 strokes

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

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

Words related to 左

Words with 左

左边zuǒbian · left side左右zuǒyòu · about

More words: Useful Extras

女人nǚrén · woman第dì · ordinal prefix上面shàngmiàn · above下面xiàmiàn · below右yòu · right病bìng · illness见jiàn · to see笔bǐ · pen

FAQs

左 (zuǒ) means “left” or “east”. It is not on the official HSK lists, but we teach it with HSK 2 because learners need it early.
Say it zuǒ: zuǒ with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 左 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zuo with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 左 from the suggestions. Typing zuo into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
左 is not on the official HSK 2.0 word lists. It is a useful extra on our HSK 2 list, because learners need it from the start.

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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.