HSK 5 · Verbs

实话 shíhuà “truth” in Chinese

Traditional 實話

What 实话 means

  1. truth

How to say 实话

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale实shí2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale话huà4th tone, falling

实话 in a sentence

  1. 他说了实话。

    Tā shuō le shíhuà.

    He told the truth.

    Sentence #842399 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  2. 实话说，我不赞成你。

    Shíhuà shuō, wǒ bú zànchéng nǐ.

    To be frank, I don’t agree with you.

    Sentence #1438523 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 说实话，我以前没听说过这个地方。

    Shuō shíhuà, wǒ yǐqián méi tīngshuō guo zhè ge dìfang.

    To be honest, I’ve never heard of this place before.

    Sentence #1524463 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 实话 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 实 (shí) with each of its parts in a different colour
实shíreal
  • 宀roof · mián
  • 头head · tóu

Memory aidSimplified from 實, a house 宀 full of strings of coins: solid, real.

The character 话 (huà) with each of its parts in a different colour
话huàdialect
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yán
  • 舌tongue · shé

Memory aidSpeech 讠 from the tongue 舌: talk, words.

How to write 实话

实 8 strokes · 话 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 实话

Words with 实

其实qíshí · actually诚实chéngshí · honest实际shíjì · actual确实quèshí · indeed实在shízài · really实际上shíjìshàng · in fact果实guǒshí · fruit (of a plant)实现shíxiàn · to achieve结实jiēshi · sturdy老实lǎoshi · honest

Words with 话

电话diànhuà · telephone打电话dǎ diànhuà · to make a phone call说话shuōhuà · to speak的话dehuà · if (ends a conditional clause)对话duìhuà · dialogue笑话xiàohua · joke普通话pǔtōnghuà · Mandarin废话fèihuà · nonsense神话shénhuà · legend话题huàtí · subject (of a talk or conversation)

More words: Thinking & Talking

劝quàn · to advise确定quèdìng · to confirm确认quèrèn · to confirm善于shànyú · to be good at说不定shuōbudìng · can’t say for sure说服shuōfú · to persuade思考sīkǎo · to reflect on思想sīxiǎng · thought

FAQs

实话 (shíhuà) means “truth”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it shíhuà: shí with a 2nd tone, then huà with a 4th 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, 实话 is written 實話. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shihua with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 实话 from the suggestions. Typing shihua into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
实话 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.