HSK 5 · Function Words

各自 gèzì “each” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 各自 means

  1. each
  2. respective
  3. apiece

How to say 各自

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale各gè4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale自zì4th tone, falling

各自 in a sentence

  1. 请回到你们各自的座位。

    Qǐng huídào nǐmen gèzì de zuòwèi.

    Please go back to your seats.

    Sentence #372123 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 汤姆和玛丽从他们各自的书桌前站起身来。

    Tāngmǔ hé Mǎlì cóng tāmen gèzì de shūzhuō qián zhànqǐ shēn lái.

    Tom and Mary got up from their desks.

    Sentence #14006241 from Tatoeba

How 各自 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 各 (gè) with each of its parts in a different colour
各gèeach
  • 夂go · zhǐ
  • 口mouth · kǒu
The character 自 (zì) drawn as one shape
自zìself; oneself

自 is a single shape of 6 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidDrawn from a nose. The usual explanation is that people point to their nose to mean “me”, so it came to mean “self”.

How to write 各自

各 6 strokes · 自 6 strokes

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

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

Words related to 各自

Words with 各

Words with 自

More words: Function Words & Grammar

FAQs

各自 (gèzì) means “each” or “respective”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it gèzì: gè with a 4th tone, then zì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 各自 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type gezi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 各自 from the suggestions. Typing gezi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
各自 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.