HSK 4 · Adjectives

勇敢 yǒnggǎn “brave” in Chinese

Said as yónggǎn

Same in Traditional

What 勇敢 means

  1. brave
  2. courageous

How to say 勇敢

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale勇yǒng3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale敢gǎn3rd tone, dipping

Said as yónggǎn. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. How tone changes work

勇敢 in a sentence

  1. 我觉得她很勇敢。

    Wǒ juéde tā hěn yǒnggǎn.

    I think she is very brave.

    Sentence #3378003 from Tatoeba

  2. 我没那么勇敢。

    Wǒ méi nàme yǒnggǎn.

    I’m not so brave.

    Sentence #5663520 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 我们知道他是个勇敢的人。

    Wǒmen zhīdao tā shì ge yǒnggǎn de rén.

    We know he’s a brave man.

    Sentence #4757646 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 勇敢 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 勇 (yǒng) with each of its parts in a different colour
勇yǒngbrave
  • 甬path · tǒngSound part
  • 力strength · lìMeaning part

力 hints at the meaning (strength); 甬 (tǒng) hints at the sound. Compare it with yǒng.

The character 敢 (gǎn) drawn as one shape
敢gǎnto dare

敢 is a single shape of 11 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 勇敢

勇 9 strokes · 敢 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 勇敢

Words with 勇

勇气yǒngqì · courage英勇yīngyǒng · heroic勇于yǒngyú · to have the courage to见义勇为jiànyìyǒngwéi · to act bravely for a just cause

Words with 敢

敢gǎn · to dare不敢当bùgǎndāng · I don’t deserve such praise

More words: Adjectives

相同xiāngtóng · the same详细xiángxì · detailed严格yángé · strict严重yánzhòng · grave优点yōudiǎn · strong point优秀yōuxiù · outstanding幽默yōumò · humour有趣yǒuqù · interesting

FAQs

勇敢 (yǒnggǎn) means “brave” or “courageous”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it yǒnggǎn: yǒng with a 3rd tone, then gǎn with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like yónggǎn. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 勇敢 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yonggan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 勇敢 from the suggestions. Typing yonggan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
勇敢 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.