HSK 3 · Time

一会儿 yíhuìr “a while” in Chinese

Traditional 一會兒

What 一会儿 means

  1. a while
  2. a moment
  3. in a moment
  4. now…now…

How to say 一会儿

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale一yí2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale会huì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own儿rneutral tone, light and short

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

Tone change. 一 is yī on its own. Before a fourth tone it becomes yí, and before the other tones yì. Textbooks write the change in, as here. How tone changes work

一会儿 in a sentence

  1. 好的，我们一会儿见。

    Hǎo de, wǒmen yíhuìr jiàn.

    OK, see you in a bit.

    Sentence #10961166 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 再坐一会儿吧。

    Zài zuò yíhuìr ba.

    Stay a little longer.

    Sentence #374841 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我出去一会儿。

    Wǒ chūqu yíhuìr.

    I’m going out for a bit.

    Sentence #389427 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 一会儿 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 一 (yī) drawn as one shape
一yīoneyí in 一会儿

一 is a single shape of 1 stroke. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidOne stroke for one, the way people once counted with rods.

The character 会 (huì) with each of its parts in a different colour
会huìcan; to have the skill; to know how to
  • 人person · rén
  • 云cloud · yún

Memory aidPeople 人 getting together to talk 云 (云 meant “to say” in old Chinese): to meet, and to know how.

The character 儿 (ér) with each of its parts in a different colour
儿rnon-syllabic diminutive suffix
  • 丿slash · piě
  • 乚second (cyclical) form of 乙 · yǐ

Memory aidSimplified from 兒, a child drawn with a big head. Only the legs 儿 are left today.

How to write 一会儿

一 1 strokes · 会 6 strokes · 儿 2 strokes

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

一会儿 (yíhuìr) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 一会儿 (yíhuìr). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 一会儿

Words with 一

一yī · one一半yībàn · half一些yīxiē · some一点儿yìdiǎnr · a little一起yìqǐ · together第一dìyī · first一下yíxià · (after a verb) briefly一般yìbān · general一定yídìng · surely一共yígòng · altogether

Words with 会

会huì · can会议huìyì · meeting机会jīhuì · opportunity开会kāihuì · to have a meeting晚会wǎnhuì · evening party运动会yùndònghuì · sports meet误会wùhuì · to misunderstand约会yuēhuì · appointment聚会jùhuì · party社会shèhuì · society

Words with 儿

儿子érzi · son女儿nǚ'ér · daughter哪儿nǎr · where这儿zhèr · here那儿nàr · there一点儿yìdiǎnr · a little面条儿miàntiáor · noodles好玩儿hǎowánr · amusing有点儿yǒudiǎnr · slightly男孩儿nánháir · boy

More words: Time

夏xià · summer一般yìbān · general一定yídìng · surely一共yígòng · altogether一样yíyàng · the same一直yìzhí · always以前yǐqián · before终于zhōngyú · at last

FAQs

一会儿 (yíhuìr) means “a while” or “a moment”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it yíhuìr: yí with a 2nd tone, then huì with a 4th tone, then r with a neutral tone. 一 is yī on its own. Before a fourth tone it becomes yí, and before the other tones yì. Textbooks write the change in, as here. 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, 一会儿 is written 一會兒. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yihuir with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 一会儿 from the suggestions. Typing yihuir into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
一会儿 is an HSK 3 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.