HSK 3 · Function Words

才 cái “ability” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 才 means

  1. ability
  2. talent
  3. just now
  4. not until
  5. sb of a certain type
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • a capable individual
  • then and only then
  • (before an expression of quantity) only

How to say 才

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale才cái2nd tone, rising

才 in a sentence

  1. 为什么现在才来？

    Wèishénme xiànzài cái lái?

    Why are you only coming now?

    Sentence #3538053 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他才从图书馆回来。

    Tā cái cóng túshūguǎn huílai.

    He’s just come back from the library.

    Sentence #3538055 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 只有你来了，她才会来我的生日派对。

    Zhǐyǒu nǐ lái le, tā cái huì lái wǒ de shēngrì pàiduì.

    She’ll only come to my birthday party if you come.

    Sentence #381408 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 才 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 才 (cái) drawn as one shape
才cáiability; talent

才 is a single shape of 3 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 才

才 3 strokes

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

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

Words related to 才

Words with 才

刚才gāngcái · just now人才réncái · talent才干cáigàn · ability天才tiāncái · genius

More words: Particles & Connectors

像xiàng · be like一边yìbiān · one side又yòu · once again只有zhǐyǒu · only只zhǐ · only地de · particle used after a description按时ànshí · on time按照ànzhào · according to

FAQs

才 (cái) means “ability” or “talent”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it cái: cái with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 才 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type cai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 才 from the suggestions. Typing cai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
才 is an HSK 3 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.