HSK 2 · Common Verbs

希望 xīwàng “to hope” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 希望 means

  1. to hope
  2. a wish

How to say 希望

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale希xī1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale望wàng4th tone, falling

希望 in a sentence

  1. 我很希望你会再来。

    Wǒ hěn xīwàng nǐ huì zài lái.

    I do hope you’ll come again.

    Sentence #745923 from Tatoeba

  2. 我希望有更多的时间。

    Wǒ xīwàng yǒu gèng duō de shíjiān.

    I wish I had more time.

    Sentence #6404926 from Tatoeba

  3. 真希望能在周末见到你。

    Zhēn xīwàng néng zài zhōumò jiàndào nǐ.

    I really hope I can see you this weekend.

    Sentence #14037657 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 希望 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 希 (xī) with each of its parts in a different colour
希xīto hope
  • 乂to govern · yì
  • 布cotton · bù
The character 望 (wàng) with each of its parts in a different colour
望wàngfull moon
  • 亡death · wáng
  • 月moon · yuè
  • 王king · wáng

Memory aidA person standing gazing at the moon 月 far away: to gaze, to hope.

How to write 希望

希 7 strokes · 望 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 希望

Words with 望

失望shīwàng · disappointed盼望pànwàng · to hope for看望kànwàng · to visit愿望yuànwàng · desire探望tànwàng · to visit (esp. someone ill or elderly)绝望juéwàng · to despair渴望kěwàng · to long for期望qīwàng · to expect欲望yùwàng · desire指望zhǐwàng · to count on

More words: Common Verbs

完wán · to finish准备zhǔnbèi · to prepare知道zhīdao · to know (a fact)觉得juéde · to feel告诉gàosu · to tell问wèn · to ask开始kāishǐ · to begin运动yùndòng · to exercise

FAQs

希望 (xīwàng) means “to hope” or “a wish”. It is an HSK 2 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it xīwàng: xī with a 1st tone, then wàng with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 希望 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xiwang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 希望 from the suggestions. Typing xiwang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
希望 is an HSK 2 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.