HSK 5 · Money

欠 qiàn “to owe” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 欠 means

  1. to owe
  2. to lack
  3. (bound form) yawn
  4. to raise slightly (a part of one’s body)

How to say 欠

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale欠qiàn4th tone, falling

欠 in a sentence

  1. 我欠您多少？

    Wǒ qiàn nín duōshǎo?

    How much do I owe you?

    Sentence #786025 from Tatoeba

  2. 我们欠你个道歉。

    Wǒmen qiàn nǐ ge dàoqiàn.

    We owe you an apology.

    Sentence #5907641 from Tatoeba

  3. 我欠了很多钱。

    Wǒ qiàn le hěn duō qián.

    I owe a lot of money.

    Sentence #4517817 from Tatoeba

How 欠 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 欠 (qiàn) with each of its parts in a different colour
欠qiànto owe
  • ⺈knife form of 刀 · dāo
  • 人person · rén

How to write 欠

欠 4 strokes

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

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

Words related to 欠

More words: Money & Economy

贸易màoyì · (commercial) trade名牌míngpái · famous brand赔偿péicháng · to compensate破产pòchǎn · to go bankrupt人民币rénmínbì · Renminbi (RMB)商品shāngpǐn · commodity商务shāngwù · business市场shìchǎng · marketplace

FAQs

欠 (qiàn) means “to owe” or “to lack”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it qiàn: qiàn with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 欠 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type qian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 欠 from the suggestions. Typing qian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
欠 is an HSK 5 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.