HSK 1 · Common Verbs

请 qǐng “please” in Chinese

Traditional 請

What 请 means

  1. please, to invite
  2. to ask
  3. please (do sth)
  4. to treat (to a meal etc)
  5. to request

How to say 请

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale请qǐng3rd tone, dipping

请 in a sentence

  1. 请告诉我你的名字。

    Qǐng gàosu wǒ nǐ de míngzi.

    Please tell me your name.

    Sentence #1053718 from Tatoeba

  2. 请回答我的问题。

    Qǐng huídá wǒ de wèntí.

    Please answer my question.

    Sentence #349931 from Tatoeba

  3. 请 can also mean “to ask someone to do something”

    你能请她打电话给我吗？

    Nǐ néng qǐng tā dǎ diànhuà gěi wǒ ma?

    Could you ask her to call me?

    Sentence #4208521 from Tatoeba

How 请 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 请 (qǐng) with each of its parts in a different colour
请qǐngto ask
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 青blue-green · qīngSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 青 (qīng) hints at the sound. Compare it with qǐng.

How to write 请

请 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 请

Words with 请

请问qǐngwèn · Excuse me请假qǐngjià · to ask for time off请客qǐngkè · to treat someone (to a meal)邀请yāoqǐng · to invite申请shēnqǐng · to apply (for)请求qǐngqiú · to request请教qǐngjiào · to ask for advice请示qǐngshì · to ask for instructions请柬qǐngjiǎn · invitation card请帖qǐngtiě · invitation card

More words: Common Verbs

睡觉shuìjiào · to sleep买mǎi · to buy开kāi · to open学习xuéxí · to study能néng · can会huì · can爱ài · to love坐zuò · to sit

FAQs

请 (qǐng) means “please, to invite” or “to ask”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it qǐng: qǐng 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, 请 is written 請. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type qing with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 请 from the suggestions. Typing qing into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
请 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.