HSK 5 · Ideas

道理 dàoli “reason” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 道理 means

  1. reason
  2. argument
  3. sense
  4. principle
  5. basis
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • justification

Measure word 个 gè · 一个道理 yí ge dàoli

How to say 道理

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale道dào4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own理lineutral tone, light and short

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

道理 in a sentence

  1. 那是有道理的。

    Nà shì yǒu dàoli de.

    That makes sense.

    Sentence #781532 from Tatoeba

  2. 他说的话有一定的道理。

    Tā shuō de huà yǒu yídìng de dàoli.

    There’s some truth in what he says.

    Sentence #772373 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 也许您有道理。

    Yěxǔ nín yǒu dàoli.

    Maybe you’re right.

    Sentence #7768335 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 道理 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 道 (dào) with each of its parts in a different colour
道dàoroad; path 条,股)
  • 首head · shǒuSound part
  • 辶walking form of 辵 · chuòMeaning part

辶 hints at the meaning (walking); 首 (shǒu) hints at the sound. Compare it with dào.

Memory aidPicture walking 辶 with your head 首 leading the way: a road, a way.

The character 理 (lǐ) with each of its parts in a different colour
理lǐtexturelight in 道理
  • 王king · wángMeaning part
  • 里village · lǐSound part

王 hints at the meaning (king); 里 (lǐ) hints at the sound. Compare it with li.

Memory aid王 here is jade 玉: cutting jade along its grain. 里 (lǐ) gives the sound: to put in order, reason.

How to write 道理

道 12 strokes · 理 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 道理

Words with 道

知道zhīdao · to know (a fact)街道jiēdào · street道dào · (m.w. for orders味道wèidao · flavour道歉dàoqiàn · to apologise难道nándào · don’t tell me …报道bàodào · to report (news)地道dìdao · authentic道德dàodé · virtue频道píndào · frequency

Words with 理

经理jīnglǐ · manager理解lǐjiě · to comprehend理想lǐxiǎng · an ideal理发lǐfà · to get a haircut修理xiūlǐ · to repair整理zhěnglǐ · to arrange管理guǎnlǐ · to supervise办理bànlǐ · to handle处理chǔlǐ · to handle合理hélǐ · rational

More words: Ideas & Concepts

成就chéngjiù · accomplishment程度chéngdù · degree措施cuòshī · measure单元dānyuán · unit (forming an entity)方案fāng'àn · plan方式fāngshì · way范围fànwéi · range概念gàiniàn · concept

FAQs

道理 (dàoli) means “reason” or “argument”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it dàoli: dào with a 4th tone, then li with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 道理 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 个 (gè). For example, one reason is 一个道理 (yí ge dàoli).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type daoli with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 道理 from the suggestions. Typing daoli into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
道理 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.