HSK 5 · Verbs

打听 dǎting “to ask about” in Chinese

Traditional 打聽

What 打听 means

  1. to ask about
  2. to make some inquiries
  3. to ask around

How to say 打听

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale打dǎ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own听tingneutral tone, light and short

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

打听 in a sentence

  1. 我想向你打听点他的事。

    Wǒ xiǎng xiàng nǐ dǎting diǎn tā de shì.

    I’d like to ask you about him.

    Sentence #13892065 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我不知道火车时间，你能帮我打听一下吗？

    Wǒ bù zhīdao huǒchē shíjiān, nǐ néng bāng wǒ dǎting yíxià ma?

    I don’t know the train times. Could you find out for me?

    Sentence #794096 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我要去柜台打听这里附近有没有餐厅。

    Wǒ yào qù guìtái dǎting zhèlǐ fùjìn yǒu méiyǒu cāntīng.

    I’m going to ask at the front desk whether there are any restaurants nearby.

    Sentence #1964680 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 打听 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 打 (dǎ) with each of its parts in a different colour
打dǎto hit; to strike
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒuMeaning part
  • 丁part of the characterSound part

Memory aidA hand 扌 striking a nail 丁: to hit. It is now used for many actions, such as 打电话 (dǎ diànhuà) “to phone”.

The character 听 (tīng) with each of its parts in a different colour
听yǐnsmile
  • 口mouth · kǒu
  • 斤axe · jīn

Memory aidMouth 口 with 斤 (jīn) for the sound. The full form 聽 has an ear 耳 in it: to listen.

How to write 打听

打 5 strokes · 听 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 打听

Words with 打

打电话dǎ diànhuà · to make a phone call打dǎ · to hit打车dǎchē · to take a taxi (in town)打开dǎkāi · to open打篮球dǎlánqiú · to play basketball打扫dǎsǎo · to clean打算dǎsuàn · to plan打扮dǎban · to decorate打扰dǎrǎo · to disturb打印dǎyìn · to print (with a printer)

Words with 听

听tīng · to listen听见tīngjiàn · to hear好听hǎotīng · pleasant to hear听说tīngshuō · to hear (it said that)难听nántīng · unpleasant to hear倾听qīngtīng · to listen attentively

More words: Thinking & Talking

称赞chēngzàn · to praise承认chéngrèn · to admit当心dāngxīn · to be careful答应dāying · to agree反映fǎnyìng · to reflect发言fāyán · to make a speech废话fèihuà · nonsense分别fēnbié · to part

FAQs

打听 (dǎting) means “to ask about” or “to make some inquiries”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it dǎting: dǎ with a 3rd tone, then ting with a neutral 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, 打听 is written 打聽. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type dating with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 打听 from the suggestions. Typing dating into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
打听 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.