HSK 3 · Places

地方 dìfang “place” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 地方 means

  1. place
  2. space
  3. room
  4. part
  5. location
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • area
  • territory
  • aspect

Measure word 处 chù · 一处地方 yí chù dìfang

How to say 地方

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale地dì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own方fangneutral tone, light and short

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

地方 in a sentence

  1. 请问这儿是什么地方？

    Qǐngwèn zhèr shì shénme dìfang?

    Excuse me, what is this place?

    Sentence #392196 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 下雨了。我们找地方躲一下吧。

    Xiàyǔ le. Wǒmen zhǎo dìfang duǒ yíxià ba.

    It’s raining. Let’s find somewhere to shelter.

    Sentence #12686014 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 有的地方不能理解。

    Yǒude dìfang bù néng lǐjiě.

    There are some parts I can’t understand.

    Sentence #13505779 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 地方 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 地 (dì) with each of its parts in a different colour
地dìearth
  • 土earth · tǔMeaning part
  • 也also · yěSound part

土 hints at the meaning (earth); 也 (yě) hints at the sound. Compare it with dì.

Memory aidEarth 土 gives the meaning: the ground, a place.

The character 方 (fāng) drawn as one shape
方fāngsquarelight in 地方

方 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 地方

地 6 strokes · 方 4 strokes

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

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

Words related to 地方

Words with 地

地dì · earth地铁dìtiě · subway地图dìtú · map外地wàidì · another part of the country草地cǎodì · lawn地点dìdiǎn · place地址dìzhǐ · address地球dìqiú · the earth当地dāngdì · local地区dìqū · region

Words with 方

北方běifāng · north方便fāngbiàn · convenient南方nánfāng · the south西方xīfāng · the West东方dōngfāng · the East方便面fāngbiànmiàn · instant noodles方法fāngfǎ · method方面fāngmiàn · respect方向fāngxiàng · direction方fāng · square

More words: Places & Directions

办公室bàngōngshì · office北方běifāng · north超市chāoshì · supermarket城市chéngshì · city or town地铁dìtiě · subway地图dìtú · map电梯diàntī · lift东dōng · East

FAQs

地方 (dìfang) means “place” or “space”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it dìfang: dì with a 4th tone, then fang with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 地方 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 处 (chù). For example, one place is 一处地方 (yí chù dìfang).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type difang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 地方 from the suggestions. Typing difang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
地方 is an HSK 3 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.