HSK 3.0 Level 4 · Modal

能够 nénggòu “to be able to” in Chinese

Traditional 能夠

What 能够 means

  1. to be able to
  2. to be capable of
  3. can

How to say 能够

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale能néng2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale够gòu4th tone, falling

能够 in a sentence

  1. 我也很高兴能够认识你。

    Wǒ yě hěn gāoxìng nénggòu rènshi nǐ.

    I’m very pleased to meet you too.

    Sentence #2480482 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 没有人能够解决这个问题。

    Méiyǒu rén nénggòu jiějué zhè ge wèntí.

    Nobody can solve this problem.

    Sentence #634684 from Tatoeba

  3. 我非常希望能够去日本。

    Wǒ fēicháng xīwàng nénggòu qù Rìběn.

    I really hope I’ll be able to go to Japan.

    Sentence #501369 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 能够 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”.

The character 够 (gòu) with each of its parts in a different colour
够gòuenough
  • 句sentence · jùSound part
  • 多much · duōMeaning part

多 hints at the meaning (much); 句 (jù) hints at the sound. Compare it with gòu.

How to write 能够

能 10 strokes · 够 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 能够

Words with 能

能néng · can可能kěnéng · maybe只能zhǐnéng · can only能力nénglì · capability能干nénggàn · capable能源néngyuán · energy功能gōngnéng · function职能zhínéng · function能量néngliàng · energy性能xìngnéng · performance

Words with 够

够gòu · enough

More words: Modal & Auxiliary Verbs

该gāi · should只能zhǐnéng · can only

FAQs

能够 (nénggòu) means “to be able to” or “to be capable of”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 4 word.
Say it nénggòu: néng with a 2nd tone, then gòu 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, 能够 is written 能夠. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type nenggou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 能够 from the suggestions. Typing nenggou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
能够 is an HSK 3.0 Level 4 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 3 word list. It is not on the older 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.