HSK 3.0 Level 2 · Everyday Verbs

下来 xiàlai “to come down” in Chinese

Traditional 下來

What 下来 means

  1. to come down
  2. (completed action marker)
  3. (after verb of motion, indicates motion down and towards us, also fig.)
  4. (indicates continuation from the past towards us)
  5. to be harvested (of crops)
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to be over (of a period of time)

How to say 下来

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale下xià4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own来laineutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

下来 in a sentence

  1. 从那儿下来！

    Cóng nàr xiàlai!

    Get down from there!

    Sentence #7779226 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 老人坐了下来。

    Lǎorén zuò le xiàlai.

    The old man sat down.

    Sentence #332886 from Tatoeba

  3. 把你知道的写下来。

    Bǎ nǐ zhīdao de xiě xiàlai.

    Write down what you know.

    Sentence #14057674 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 下来 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 下 (xià) with each of its parts in a different colour
下xiàdown
  • 一one · yī
  • 卜divination · bǔ

Memory aidA short stroke below the line: down, below.

The character 来 (lái) with each of its parts in a different colour
来láito comelight in 下来
  • 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 下来

下 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.

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

Words related to 下来

Words with 下

下xià · down下午xiàwǔ · afternoon下雨xiàyǔ · to rain下班xiàbān · to finish work下课xiàkè · to finish class一下yíxià · (after a verb) briefly下面xiàmiàn · below下去xiàqù · to go down以下yǐxià · below留下liúxia · to leave behind

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上来shànglái · to come up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: Everyday Verbs

考kǎo · to take an exam跑pǎo · to run踢tī · to kick忘wàng · to forget游yóu · to swim起qǐ · to rise得到dédào · to get受shòu · to receive

FAQs

下来 (xiàlai) means “to come down” or “(completed action marker)”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word.
Say it xiàlai: xià with a 4th tone, then lai with a neutral 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, 下来 is written 下來. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xialai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 下来 from the suggestions. Typing xialai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
下来 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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.