HSK 5 · Function Words

单独 dāndú “alone” in Chinese

Traditional 單獨

What 单独 means

  1. alone
  2. by oneself
  3. on one’s own

How to say 单独

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale单dān1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale独dú2nd tone, rising

单独 in a sentence

  1. 我想让他单独去做。

    Wǒ xiǎng ràng tā dāndú qù zuò.

    I want him to do it alone.

    Sentence #5613636 from Tatoeba

  2. 我想单独和你聊聊。

    Wǒ xiǎng dāndú hé nǐ liáoliao.

    I’d like to talk to you alone.

    Sentence #14067852 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 她答应不单独外出。

    Tā dāying bù dāndú wàichū.

    She promised not to go out alone.

    Sentence #892512 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 单独 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 单 (dān) drawn as one shape
单dānbill

单 is a single shape of 8 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 独 (dú) with each of its parts in a different colour
独dúalone
  • 犭dog form of 犬 · quǎnMeaning part
  • 虫insect · chóngSound part

犭 hints at the meaning (dog); 虫 (chóng) hints at the sound. Compare it with dú.

How to write 单独

单 8 strokes · 独 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 单独

Words with 单

菜单càidān · menu简单jiǎndān · simple名单míngdān · list of names单纯dānchún · simple单调dāndiào · monotonous单位dānwèi · unit (of measurement)单元dānyuán · unit (forming an entity)传单chuándān · leaflet床单chuángdān · bed sheet

Words with 独

独立dúlì · independent独特dútè · unique孤独gūdú · lonely独裁dúcái · dictatorship唯独wéidú · only得天独厚détiāndúhòu · richly endowed by nature

More words: Function Words & Grammar

朝cháo · towards除非chúfēi · only if (…此外cǐwài · besides从而cóng'ér · thus的确díquè · really顶dǐng · top吨dūn · tonne (loanword)顿dùn · measure word for meals

FAQs

单独 (dāndú) means “alone” or “by oneself”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it dāndú: dān with a 1st tone, then dú 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, 单独 is written 單獨. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type dandu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 单独 from the suggestions. Typing dandu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
单独 is an HSK 5 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.