HSK 2 · Common Verbs

懂 dǒng “to understand” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 懂 means

  1. to understand
  2. to comprehend

How to say 懂

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale懂dǒng3rd tone, dipping

懂 in a sentence

  1. 你懂我的意思吗？

    Nǐ dǒng wǒ de yìsi ma?

    Do you understand what I mean?

    Sentence #1360380 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 如果你不懂，那就问。

    Rúguǒ nǐ bù dǒng, nà jiù wèn.

    If you don’t understand, ask.

    Sentence #843553 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我想我懂了。

    Wǒ xiǎng wǒ dǒng le.

    I think I understand.

    Sentence #335167 from Tatoeba

How 懂 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 懂 (dǒng) with each of its parts in a different colour
懂dǒngto understand
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīnMeaning part
  • 董to direct · dǒngSound part

忄 hints at the meaning (heart); 董 (dǒng) hints at the sound. Compare it with dǒng.

How to write 懂

懂 15 strokes

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

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

Words related to 懂

Words with 懂

懂得dǒngde · to understand

More words: Common Verbs

会huì · can爱ài · to love坐zuò · to sit打篮球dǎlánqiú · to play basketball过guò · to pass卖mài · to sell跑步pǎobù · to run起床qǐchuáng · to get up

FAQs

懂 (dǒng) means “to understand” or “to comprehend”. It is an HSK 2 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it dǒng: dǒng with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 懂 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type dong with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 懂 from the suggestions. Typing dong into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
懂 is an HSK 2 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.