HSK 4 · Emotions

麻烦 máfan “trouble” in Chinese

Traditional 麻煩

What 麻烦 means

  1. trouble
  2. inconvenience
  3. inconvenient
  4. troublesome
  5. annoying
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to bother sb
  • to put sb to trouble

How to say 麻烦

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale麻má2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own烦fanneutral tone, light and short

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

麻烦 in a sentence

  1. 他在工作上遇到了麻烦。

    Tā zài gōngzuò shàng yùdào le máfan.

    He ran into trouble at work.

    Sentence #3537642 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 这个问题很麻烦。

    Zhè ge wèntí hěn máfan.

    This problem is a real hassle.

    Sentence #3537640 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 麻烦给我菜单。

    Máfan gěi wǒ càidān.

    Could I have the menu, please?

    Sentence #2256417 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 麻烦 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 麻 (má) with each of its parts in a different colour
麻máhemp
  • 广shelter · guǎng
  • 林forest · lín
The character 烦 (fán) with each of its parts in a different colour
烦fánto feel vexedlight in 麻烦
  • 火fire · huǒMeaning part
  • 页page · xiéSound part

火 hints at the meaning (fire); 页 (xié) hints at the sound. Compare it with fan.

How to write 麻烦

麻 11 strokes · 烦 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 麻烦

Words with 麻

麻痹mábì · paralysis麻木mámù · numb麻醉mázuì · anaesthesia

Words with 烦

烦恼fánnǎo · to be worried不耐烦bùnàifán · impatient

More words: Emotions & Feelings

开心kāixīn · to feel happy可怜kělián · pitiful可惜kěxī · it is a pity浪漫làngmàn · romantic难受nánshòu · to feel unwell失败shībài · to fail失望shīwàng · disappointed受不了shòubùliǎo · unbearable

FAQs

麻烦 (máfan) means “trouble” or “inconvenience”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it máfan: má with a 2nd tone, then fan with a neutral 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, 麻烦 is written 麻煩. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type mafan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 麻烦 from the suggestions. Typing mafan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
麻烦 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.