HSK 5 · Verbs

观察 guānchá “to observe” in Chinese

Traditional 觀察

What 观察 means

  1. to observe
  2. to watch
  3. to survey

How to say 观察

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale观guān1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale察chá2nd tone, rising

观察 in a sentence

  1. 观察鸟类是个很好的业余爱好。

    Guānchá niǎolèi shì ge hěn hǎo de yèyú àihào.

    Birdwatching is a great hobby.

    Sentence #333590 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我们可以用望远镜来观察远方的事物。

    Wǒmen kěyǐ yòng wàngyuǎnjìng lái guānchá yuǎnfāng de shìwù.

    We can use a telescope to observe things far away.

    Sentence #1269868 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 医生继续观察病人的一举一动。

    Yīshēng jìxù guānchá bìngrén de yìjǔyídòng.

    The doctor continued to observe the patient’s every move.

    Sentence #433481 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 观察 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 观 (guān) with each of its parts in a different colour
观guānto look at
  • 又again · yòu
  • 见to see · jiàn
The character 察 (chá) with each of its parts in a different colour
察cháto examine
  • 宀roof · miánMeaning part
  • 祭to sacrifice to · jìSound part

宀 hints at the meaning (roof); 祭 (jì) hints at the sound. Compare it with chá.

How to write 观察

观 6 strokes · 察 14 strokes

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

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

Words related to 观察

Words with 观

参观cānguān · to look around观众guānzhòng · spectators观点guāndiǎn · point of view观念guānniàn · notion悲观bēiguān · pessimistic客观kèguān · objective乐观lèguān · optimistic主观zhǔguān · subjective可观kěguān · considerable美观měiguān · attractive

Words with 察

警察jǐngchá · police考察kǎochá · to investigate

More words: Thinking & Talking

告别gàobié · to say goodbye公布gōngbù · to announce恭喜gōngxǐ · congratulations沟通gōutōng · to communicate观点guāndiǎn · point of view观念guānniàn · notion光临guānglín · (formal) to honour with one’s presence归纳guīnà · to sum up

FAQs

观察 (guānchá) means “to observe” or “to watch”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it guānchá: guān with a 1st tone, then chá with a 2nd 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, 观察 is written 觀察. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type guancha with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 观察 from the suggestions. Typing guancha into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
观察 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.