HSK 4 · Function Words

俩 liǎ “two (colloquial equivalent of 两个)” in Chinese

Traditional 倆

What 俩 means

  1. two (colloquial equivalent of 两个)
  2. both
  3. some

How to say 俩

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale俩liǎ3rd tone, dipping

俩 in a sentence

  1. 你们俩什么时候见面的？

    Nǐmen liǎ shénme shíhou jiànmiàn de?

    When did you two meet?

    Sentence #13922478 from Tatoeba

  2. 咱们俩是朋友。

    Zánmen liǎ shì péngyou.

    You and I are friends.

    Sentence #1872712 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 他们俩都在房间里。

    Tāmen liǎ dōu zài fángjiān lǐ.

    They’re both in the room.

    Sentence #404317 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 俩 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 俩 (liǎ) with each of its parts in a different colour
俩liǎtwo
  • 亻person form of 人 · rén
  • 两two · liǎng

How to write 俩

俩 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 俩

More words: Particles & Connectors

棵kē · measure word for trees and plants可是kěshì · but恐怕kǒngpà · I’m afraid (that)例如lìrú · for example另外lìngwài · additional难道nándào · don’t tell me …内nèi · inside篇piān · measure word for articles and essays

FAQs

俩 (liǎ) means “two (colloquial equivalent of 两个)” or “both”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it liǎ: liǎ with a 3rd 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, 俩 is written 倆. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type lia with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 俩 from the suggestions. Typing lia into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
俩 is an HSK 4 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.