HSK 1 · Common Verbs

能 néng “can” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 能 means

  1. can, able
  2. to be able to
  3. might possibly
  4. ability
  5. (physics) energy

How to say 能

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale能néng2nd tone, rising

能 in a sentence

  1. 你能回答他的问题吗？

    Nǐ néng huídá tā de wèntí ma?

    Can you answer his question?

    Sentence #11294951 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 你能来我真高兴。

    Nǐ néng lái wǒ zhēn gāoxìng.

    I’m really glad you’re here.

    Sentence #3671241 from Tatoeba

  3. 这什么时候能准备好？

    Zhè shénme shíhou néng zhǔnbèi hǎo?

    When will it be ready?

    Sentence #7768157 from Tatoeba

How 能 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 能 (néng) with each of its parts in a different colour
能néngcan
  • 厶private · sī
  • ⺼meat form of 肉 · ròu
  • 匕spoon · bǐ
  • 匕spoon · bǐ

Memory aidDrawn from a bear. It was borrowed for “can, be able to”.

How to write 能

能 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 能

Words with 能

可能kěnéng · maybe只能zhǐnéng · can only能力nénglì · capability能够nénggòu · to be able to能干nénggàn · capable能源néngyuán · energy功能gōngnéng · function职能zhínéng · function能量néngliàng · energy性能xìngnéng · performance

More words: Common Verbs

买mǎi · to buy开kāi · to open学习xuéxí · to study请qǐng · please会huì · can爱ài · to love坐zuò · to sit打篮球dǎlánqiú · to play basketball

FAQs

能 (néng) means “can, able” or “to be able to”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it néng: néng with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 能 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type neng with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 能 from the suggestions. Typing neng into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
能 is an HSK 1 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.