HSK 3.0 Level 2 · Places

上来 shànglái “to come up” in Chinese

Traditional 上來

What 上来 means

  1. to come up
  2. to approach
  3. (verb complement indicating success)

How to say 上来

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale上shàng4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale来lái2nd tone, rising

上来 in a sentence

  1. 你上来吧，我在楼上。

    Nǐ shànglái ba, wǒ zài lóushàng.

    Come on up. I’m upstairs.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 他从楼下走上来了。

    Tā cóng lóuxià zǒu shànglái le.

    He came up from downstairs.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  3. 快上来，车要开了！

    Kuài shànglái, chē yào kāi le!

    Hurry and get on. The bus is about to leave!

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 上来 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 上 (shàng) with each of its parts in a different colour
上shàngup; upper; above; previous
  • ⺊divination form of 卜 · bǔ
  • 一one · yī

Memory aidA short stroke above the line: up, on top.

The character 来 (lái) with each of its parts in a different colour
来láito come
  • 未part of the character
  • 丷eight form of 八 · bā

Memory aidDrawn from a stalk of wheat. It was borrowed early on for “to come”.

How to write 上来

上 3 strokes · 来 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 上来

Words with 上

上shàng · up上午shàngwǔ · morning (forenoon)上课shàngkè · to go to class上学shàngxué · to go to school早上zǎoshang · morning晚上wǎnshang · evening上班shàngbān · to go to work上面shàngmiàn · above路上lùshang · on the road上去shàngqù · to go up

Words with 来

来lái · to come出来chūlái · to come out过来guòlái · to come over回来huílai · to return进来jìnlái · to come in下来xiàlai · to come down后来hòulái · afterwards起来qǐlai · beginning or continuing an action带来dàilái · to bring (about)看来kànlái · it seems

More words: Places & Getting Around

进去jìnqù · to go in里面lǐmiàn · inside路上lùshang · on the road商场shāngchǎng · shopping mall上去shàngqù · to go up外国wàiguó · foreign (country)外面wàimiàn · outside网上wǎngshàng · online

FAQs

上来 (shànglái) means “to come up” or “to approach”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word.
Say it shànglái: shàng with a 4th tone, then lái 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, 上来 is written 上來. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shanglai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 上来 from the suggestions. Typing shanglai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
上来 is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 2 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.