HSK 6 · Ideas

本事 běnshi “ability” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 本事 means

  1. ability
  2. skill

How to say 本事

  • 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 neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own事shineutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

本事 in a sentence

  1. 她真的有本事让别人做她想做的事。

    Tā zhēn de yǒu běnshi ràng biéren zuò tā xiǎng zuò de shì.

    She has a real knack for getting people to do what she wants.

    Sentence #812249 from Tatoeba

How 本事 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 事 (shì) with each of its parts in a different colour
事shìmatterlight in 本事
  • 一one · yī
  • 口mouth · kǒu
  • 彐snout · jì
  • 亅hook · jué

How to write 本事

本 5 strokes · 事 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 本事

Words with 本

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

Words with 事

事shì · matter没事méishì · it’s nothing事情shìqing · matter同事tóngshì · colleague故事gùshi · story从事cóngshì · to engage in人事rénshì · personnel军事jūnshì · military affairs事实shìshí · fact事物shìwù · thing

More words: Ideas & Concepts

榜样bǎngyàng · role model半途而废bàntú'érfèi · to give up halfway饱经沧桑bǎojīngcāngsāng · to have lived through many ups and downs本能běnnéng · instinct变故biàngù · misfortune变迁biànqiān · changes辩证biànzhèng · dialectical弊病bìbìng · drawback

FAQs

本事 (běnshi) means “ability” or “skill”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it běnshi: běn with a 3rd tone, then shi with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 本事 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type benshi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 本事 from the suggestions. Typing benshi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
本事 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.