HSK 3.0 Level 1 · School

小学 xiǎoxué “elementary school” in Chinese

Traditional 小學

What 小学 means

  1. elementary school
  2. primary school

How to say 小学

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale小xiǎo3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale学xué2nd tone, rising

小学 in a sentence

  1. 我儿子上小学三年级。

    Wǒ érzi shàng xiǎoxué sān niánjí.

    My son is in Year 3 at primary school.

    Sentence #6451999 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我读小学的时候，我母亲常常来接我。

    Wǒ dú xiǎoxué de shíhou, wǒ mǔqīn chángcháng lái jiē wǒ.

    When I was at primary school, my mother often came to pick me up.

    Sentence #804916 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我很想念我小学的老师。

    Wǒ hěn xiǎngniàn wǒ xiǎoxué de lǎoshī.

    I really miss my primary school teachers.

    Sentence #492891 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 小学 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 小 (xiǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
小xiǎosmall
  • 亅hook · jué
  • 八eight · bā

Memory aidThree small strokes, like grains: small.

The character 学 (xué) with each of its parts in a different colour
学xuéto learn
  • ⺍small form of 小 · xiǎo
  • 冖cover · mì
  • 子child · zǐ

Memory aidA roof 冖 over a child 子 at study.

How to write 小学

小 3 strokes · 学 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 小学

Words with 小

小xiǎo · small小姐xiǎojiě · miss小学生xiǎoxuéshēng · primary school student小朋友xiǎopéngyǒu · child小时xiǎoshí · hour从小cóngxiǎo · from childhood小孩儿xiǎoháir · child小时候xiǎoshíhou · in one’s childhood小心xiǎoxīn · be careful小区xiǎoqū · residential estate

Words with 学

学xué · to learn学生xuésheng · student同学tóngxué · classmate学校xuéxiào · school学习xuéxí · to study大学dàxué · university上学shàngxué · to go to school中学zhōngxué · middle school大学生dàxuéshēng · university student小学生xiǎoxuéshēng · primary school student

More words: School & Work

上课shàngkè · to go to class上学shàngxué · to go to school下班xiàbān · to finish work下课xiàkè · to finish class小学生xiǎoxuéshēng · primary school student学xué · to learn中学zhōngxué · middle school中学生zhōngxuéshēng · middle-school student

FAQs

小学 (xiǎoxué) means “elementary school” or “primary school”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word.
Say it xiǎoxué: xiǎo with a 3rd tone, then xué 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, 小学 is written 小學. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xiaoxue with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 小学 from the suggestions. Typing xiaoxue into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
小学 is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 1 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.