HSK 3 · Education, Work

年级 niánjí “grade” in Chinese

Traditional 年級

What 年级 means

  1. grade
  2. year in school
  3. year (in school, college etc)

Measure word 个 gè · 一个年级 yí ge niánjí

How to say 年级

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale年nián2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale级jí2nd tone, rising

年级 in a sentence

  1. 我儿子上小学三年级。

    Wǒ érzi shàng xiǎoxué sān niánjí.

    My son is in Year 3 at primary school.

    Sentence #6451999 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 她是个二年级学生。

    Tā shì ge èr niánjí xuésheng.

    She’s a second-year student.

    Sentence #1363308 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 年级 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 年 (nián) drawn as one shape
年niányear

年 is a single shape of 6 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidA person carrying ripe grain: one harvest, one year.

The character 级 (jí) with each of its parts in a different colour
级jílevel
  • 纟silk form of 糸 · mìMeaning part
  • 及to extend · jíSound part

纟 hints at the meaning (silk); 及 (jí) hints at the sound. Compare it with jí.

How to write 年级

年 6 strokes · 级 6 strokes

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

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

Words related to 年级

Words with 年

Words with 级

More words: School, Work & Culture

FAQs

年级 (niánjí) means “grade” or “year in school”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it niánjí: nián with a 2nd tone, then jí with a 2nd 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, 年级 is written 年級. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 个 (gè). For example, one grade is 一个年级 (yí ge niánjí).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type nianji with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 年级 from the suggestions. Typing nianji into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
年级 is an HSK 3 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.