HSK 6 · Function Words

啦 la “(sentence-final particle: 了 + 啊)” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 啦 means

  1. (sentence-final particle: 了 + 啊)
  2. sentence-final particle, contraction of 了啊, indicating exclamation
  3. particle placed after each item in a list of examples

How to say 啦

  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own啦laneutral tone, light and short

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

啦 in a sentence

  1. 我知道啦。

    Wǒ zhīdao la.

    I know, I know!

    Sentence #1661536 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 辛苦啦！

    Xīnkǔ la!

    Thanks for your hard work!

    Sentence #1216142 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 你仔细看看，太新鲜啦！

    Nǐ zǐxì kànkan, tài xīnxiān la!

    Take a good look – it’s really fresh!

    Sentence #420266 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 啦 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 啦 (la) with each of its parts in a different colour
啦lasentence-final particle
  • 口mouth · kǒuMeaning part
  • 拉to pull · lāSound part

口 hints at the meaning (mouth); 拉 (lā) hints at the sound. Compare it with la.

How to write 啦

啦 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 啦

More words: Function Words & Grammar

皆jiē · all接连jiēlián · in succession进而jìn'ér · and then况且kuàngqiě · moreover连同liántóng · together with嘛ma · (particle indicating obviousness or urging)枚méi · (measure word for coins免得miǎnde · so as not to

FAQs

啦 (la) means “(sentence-final particle: 了 + 啊)” or “sentence-final particle, contraction of 了啊, indicating exclamation”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it la: la with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 啦 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type la with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 啦 from the suggestions. Typing la into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
啦 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.