HSK 3.0 Level 2 · Adjectives

有意思 yǒuyìsi “interesting” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 有意思 means

  1. interesting
  2. meaningful
  3. enjoyable
  4. fun

How to say 有意思

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale有yǒu3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale意yì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own思sineutral tone, light and short

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

有意思 in a sentence

  1. 他的故事很有意思。

    Tā de gùshi hěn yǒuyìsi.

    His story was interesting.

    Sentence #1313748 from Tatoeba

  2. 学外语很有意思。

    Xué wàiyǔ hěn yǒuyìsi.

    Learning a foreign language is fun.

    Sentence #585044 from Tatoeba

  3. 那部电影很有意思。

    Nà bù diànyǐng hěn yǒuyìsi.

    That film is really interesting.

    Sentence #472271 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 有意思 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 有 (yǒu) drawn as one shape
有yǒuto have; there is

有 is a single shape of 6 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidA hand holding a piece of meat 月: to have.

The character 意 (yì) with each of its parts in a different colour
意yìidea; thought; meaning; sense
  • 音sound · yīnSound part
  • 心heart · xīnMeaning part

心 hints at the meaning (heart); 音 (yīn) hints at the sound. Compare it with yì.

Memory aidA sound 音 from the heart 心: a thought, a meaning.

The character 思 (sī) with each of its parts in a different colour
思sīto thinklight in 有意思
  • 田field · tián
  • 心heart · xīn

Memory aidA head 田 (once a drawing of the skull) above the heart 心: to think.

How to write 有意思

有 6 strokes · 意 13 strokes · 思 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 有意思

Words with 有

有yǒu · to have没有méiyǒu · not to have有的yǒude · (there are) some (who are…)有些yǒuxiē · some有点儿yǒudiǎnr · slightly有时yǒushí · sometimes有名yǒumíng · famous只有zhǐyǒu · only有人yǒurén · someone有关yǒuguān · to be related to

Words with 意

意思yìsi · meaning没意思méiyìsi · boring不好意思bùhǎoyìsi · to feel embarrassed同意tóngyì · agree愿意yuànyì · be willing注意zhùyì · pay attention to满意mǎnyì · satisfied意见yìjiàn · idea得意déyì · proud of oneself生意shēngyi · business

Words with 思

意思yìsi · meaning没意思méiyìsi · boring不好意思bùhǎoyìsi · to feel embarrassed思考sīkǎo · to reflect on思想sīxiǎng · thought沉思chénsī · to ponder反思fǎnsī · to reflect on构思gòusī · to conceive (an idea or plot)思索sīsuǒ · to ponder思念sīniàn · to miss

More words: Adjectives

黑色hēisè · black红色hóngsè · red (colour)绿色lǜsè · green没意思méiyìsi · boring矮ǎi · short安静ānjìng · quiet差chà · differ from聪明cōngming · intelligent

FAQs

有意思 (yǒuyìsi) means “interesting” or “meaningful”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word.
Say it yǒuyìsi: yǒu with a 3rd tone, then yì with a 4th tone, then si with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 有意思 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type youyisi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 有意思 from the suggestions. Typing youyisi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
有意思 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.