HSK 3 · Time

马上 mǎshàng “at once” in Chinese

Traditional 馬上

What 马上 means

  1. at once
  2. immediately
  3. right away
  4. on horseback (i.e. by military force)

How to say 马上

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale马mǎ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale上shàng4th tone, falling

马上 in a sentence

  1. 我马上就到了。

    Wǒ mǎshàng jiù dào le.

    I’ll be there in a minute.

    Sentence #397172 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 别着急，我们马上就来。

    Bié zháojí, wǒmen mǎshàng jiù lái.

    Don’t worry, we’re coming right away.

    Sentence #2165608 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 你不用马上回答。

    Nǐ búyòng mǎshàng huídá.

    You don’t have to answer right away.

    Sentence #5663590 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 马上 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 马 (mǎ) drawn as one shape
马mǎhorse

马 is a single shape of 3 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidSimplified from 馬, drawn from a horse with its mane and legs.

The character 上 (shàng) with each of its parts in a different colour
上shàngup; upper; above; previous
  • ⺊divination form of 卜 · bǔ
  • 一one · yī

Memory aidA short stroke above the line: up, on top.

How to write 马上

马 3 strokes · 上 3 strokes

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

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

Words related to 马上

Words with 马

马mǎ · horse马路mǎlù · road马虎mǎhu · careless

Words with 上

上shàng · up上午shàngwǔ · morning (forenoon)上课shàngkè · to go to class上学shàngxué · to go to school早上zǎoshang · morning晚上wǎnshang · evening上班shàngbān · to go to work上面shàngmiàn · above路上lùshang · on the road上来shànglái · to come up

More words: Time

几乎jīhū · almost季节jìjié · season经常jīngcháng · often久jiǔ · long time其实qíshí · actually其他qítā · other秋qiū · autumn突然tūrán · sudden

In the Chinese zodiac

马mǎ · Year of the Horse

The 马 in 马上 is the horse.

FAQs

马上 (mǎshàng) means “at once” or “immediately”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it mǎshàng: mǎ with a 3rd tone, then shàng with a 4th 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, 马上 is written 馬上. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type mashang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 马上 from the suggestions. Typing mashang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
马上 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.