HSK 4 · Time

本来 běnlái “original” in Chinese

Traditional 本來

What 本来 means

  1. original
  2. originally
  3. at first
  4. it goes without saying
  5. of course

How to say 本来

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale本běn3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale来lái2nd tone, rising

本来 in a sentence

  1. 我本来想给她打电话的，结果忘了。

    Wǒ běnlái xiǎng gěi tā dǎ diànhuà de, jiéguǒ wàng le.

    I meant to call her, but then I forgot.

    Sentence #499623 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 这首诗本来是用法文写的。

    Zhè shǒu shī běnlái shì yòng Fǎwén xiě de.

    This poem was originally written in French.

    Sentence #383392 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 她本来应该更小心的。

    Tā běnlái yīnggāi gèng xiǎoxīn de.

    She should have been more careful.

    Sentence #850355 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 本来 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 本 (běn) with each of its parts in a different colour
本běnroot; stem
  • 木tree · mù
  • 一one · yī

Memory aidA tree 木 with a mark 一 on its roots: root, origin.

The character 来 (lái) with each of its parts in a different colour
来láito come
  • 未part of the character
  • 丷eight form of 八 · bā

Memory aidDrawn from a stalk of wheat. It was borrowed early on for “to come”.

How to write 本来

本 5 strokes · 来 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 本来

Words with 本

本běn · measure word for books本子běnzi · book课本kèběn · textbook笔记本bǐjìběn · notebook根本gēnběn · (not) at all本科běnkē · undergraduate course本领běnlǐng · skill本质běnzhì · essence基本jīběn · basic本钱běnqián · capital

Words with 来

来lái · to come出来chūlái · to come out过来guòlái · to come over回来huílai · to return进来jìnlái · to come in上来shànglái · to come up下来xiàlai · to come down后来hòulái · afterwards起来qǐlai · beginning or continuing an action带来dàilái · to bring (about)

More words: Time

周末zhōumò · weekend总是zǒngshì · always最后zuìhòu · last最近zuìjìn · recently当时dāngshí · then寒假hánjià · winter holidays将来jiānglái · in the future节jié · festival

FAQs

本来 (běnlái) means “original” or “originally”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it běnlái: běn with a 3rd tone, then lái with a 2nd 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, 本来 is written 本來. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type benlai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 本来 from the suggestions. Typing benlai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
本来 is an HSK 4 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.