HSK 5 · Function Words

宁可 nìngkě “preferably” in Chinese

Traditional 寧可

What 宁可 means

  1. preferably
  2. one would prefer to…(or not to…)
  3. would rather
  4. (would) be better to
  5. (to pick) the lesser of two evils

How to say 宁可

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale宁nìng4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale可kě3rd tone, dipping

宁可 in a sentence

  1. 我不想坐汽车去，宁可走去。

    Wǒ bùxiǎng zuò qìchē qù, nìngkě zǒu qù.

    I don’t want to go by car – I’d rather walk.

    Sentence #421122 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我宁可不要单独去那里。

    Wǒ nìngkě búyào dāndú qù nàli.

    I’d rather not go there alone.

    Sentence #893353 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 宁可当只老虎活一天，也不愿当只兔子过一百年。

    Nìngkě dāng zhī lǎohǔ huó yì tiān, yě bú yuàn dāng zhī tùzi guò yìbǎi nián.

    Better to live one day as a tiger than a hundred years as a rabbit.

    Sentence #869895 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 宁可 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 宁 (nìng) with each of its parts in a different colour
宁nìngwould rather
  • 宀roof · miánMeaning part
  • 丁part of the characterSound part
The character 可 (kě) with each of its parts in a different colour
可kěcan; may; able to; -able
  • 丁part of the characterMeaning part
  • 口mouth · kǒuSound part

Memory aidPicture a mouth 口 saying yes: can, may.

How to write 宁可

宁 5 strokes · 可 5 strokes

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

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

Words related to 宁可

Words with 宁

安宁ānníng · peaceful宁肯nìngkěn · would rather宁愿nìngyuàn · would rather

Words with 可

可以kěyǐ · can可能kěnéng · maybe可kě · but可爱kě'ài · cute可怜kělián · pitiful可惜kěxī · it is a pity可是kěshì · but可靠kěkào · reliable可怕kěpà · awful可见kějiàn · it can clearly be seen (that this is the case)

More words: Function Words & Grammar

某mǒu · some难免nánmiǎn · hard to avoid哪怕nǎpà · even难怪nánguài · (it’s) no wonder (that…)偶然ǒurán · incidentally匹pǐ · measure word for horses and bolts of cloth片piàn · slice平方píngfāng · square (as in square foot

FAQs

宁可 (nìngkě) means “preferably” or “one would prefer to…(or not to…)”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it nìngkě: nìng with a 4th tone, then kě with a 3rd 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, 宁可 is written 寧可. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type ningke with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 宁可 from the suggestions. Typing ningke into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
宁可 is an HSK 5 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.