HSK 4 · Function Words

顺便 shùnbiàn “conveniently” in Chinese

Traditional 順便

What 顺便 means

  1. conveniently
  2. in passing
  3. without much extra effort

How to say 顺便

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale顺shùn4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale便biàn4th tone, falling

顺便 in a sentence

  1. 既然你要去超市，那就顺便买些鸡蛋吧。

    Jìrán nǐ yào qù chāoshì, nà jiù shùnbiàn mǎi xiē jīdàn ba.

    Since you’re going to the supermarket, buy some eggs while you’re there.

    Sentence #406186 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 顺便问一句，你今晚有空吗？

    Shùnbiàn wèn yíjù, nǐ jīnwǎn yǒukòng ma?

    By the way, are you free tonight?

    Sentence #343858 from Tatoeba

  3. 我会在回家的路上顺便去邮局。

    Wǒ huì zài huíjiā de lùshang shùnbiàn qù yóujú.

    I’ll drop by the post office on the way home.

    Sentence #5624961 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 顺便 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 顺 (shùn) with each of its parts in a different colour
顺shùnto obey
  • 川stream · chuānSound part
  • 页page · xiéMeaning part

页 hints at the meaning (page); 川 (chuān) hints at the sound. Compare it with shùn.

The character 便 (pián) with each of its parts in a different colour
便biànplain
  • 亻person form of 人 · rén
  • 更more · gēng

How to write 顺便

顺 9 strokes · 便 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 顺便

Words with 顺

顺利shùnlì · smoothly顺序shùnxù · sequence孝顺xiàoshùn · filial一帆风顺yìfānfēngshùn · plain sailing

Words with 便

便宜piányi · cheap方便fāngbiàn · convenient方便面fāngbiànmiàn · instant noodles随便suíbiàn · as one wishes便biàn · then便利biànlì · convenient便条biàntiáo · informal note便于biànyú · easy to即便jíbiàn · even if以便yǐbiàn · so that

More words: Particles & Connectors

十分shífēn · very是否shìfǒu · whether (or not)实在shízài · really首先shǒuxiān · first (of all)顺序shùnxù · sequence随便suíbiàn · as one wishes随着suízhe · along with所有suǒyǒu · all

FAQs

顺便 (shùnbiàn) means “conveniently” or “in passing”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it shùnbiàn: shùn with a 4th tone, then biàn 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, 顺便 is written 順便. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shunbian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 顺便 from the suggestions. Typing shunbian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
顺便 is an HSK 4 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.