HSK 6 · Verbs

交代 jiāodài “to explain” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 交代 means

  1. to explain
  2. to hand over
  3. to confess
  4. to transfer (duties to sb else)
  5. to give instructions
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to tell (sb to do sth)
  • to give an account
  • to brief
  • to account for oneself
  • (jocular) to come to a bad end

How to say 交代

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale交jiāo1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale代dài4th tone, falling

交代 in a sentence

  1. 把玛丽交代你去做的事告诉汤姆。

    Bǎ Mǎlì jiāodài nǐ qù zuò de shì gàosu Tāngmǔ.

    Tell Tom what Mary asked you to do.

    Sentence #7841360 from Tatoeba

How 交代 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 交 (jiāo) with each of its parts in a different colour
交jiāoto hand over; to deliver; to pay
  • 六six · liù
  • 乂to govern · yì

Memory aidDrawn from a person with crossed legs: to cross, to hand over.

The character 代 (dài) with each of its parts in a different colour
代dàito be a substitute for
  • 亻person form of 人 · rén
  • 弋shoot · yì

How to write 交代

交 6 strokes · 代 5 strokes

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

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

Words related to 交代

Words with 交

公交车gōngjiāochē · public transport vehicle交jiāo · to hand over交流jiāoliú · to exchange交通jiāotōng · traffic交往jiāowǎng · to associate with交换jiāohuàn · to exchange交际jiāojì · social interaction外交wàijiāo · diplomacy打交道dǎjiāodào · to come into contact with交涉jiāoshè · to negotiate

Words with 代

古代gǔdài · ancient times近代jìndài · modern times (roughly 1840 to 1919 in China)年代niándài · a decade of a century (e.g. the Sixties)时代shídài · age现代xiàndài · modern times代表dàibiǎo · representative代替dàitì · to replace后代hòudài · descendants朝代cháodài · dynasty当代dāngdài · contemporary

More words: Thinking & Talking

呼吁hūyù · to appeal鉴别jiànbié · to distinguish鉴定jiàndìng · to appraise检讨jiǎntǎo · self-criticism交涉jiāoshè · to negotiate借鉴jièjiàn · to learn from揭露jiēlù · to expose激发jīfā · to arouse

FAQs

交代 (jiāodài) means “to explain” or “to hand over”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it jiāodài: jiāo with a 1st tone, then dài with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 交代 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type jiaodai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 交代 from the suggestions. Typing jiaodai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
交代 is an HSK 6 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.