HSK 3.0 Level 3 · Hobbies, Sport

照相 zhàoxiàng “to take a photo” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 照相 means

  1. to take a photo
  2. to take a photograph

How to say 照相

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale照zhào4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale相xiàng4th tone, falling

照相 in a sentence

  1. 我可以帮你照相吗？

    Wǒ kěyǐ bāng nǐ zhàoxiàng ma?

    Shall I take your photo?

    Sentence #835370 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 请你帮我照相好吗？

    Qǐng nǐ bāng wǒ zhàoxiàng hǎo ma?

    Could you take a photo of me, please?

    Sentence #874532 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 爸爸给我买了一个照相机。

    Bàba gěi wǒ mǎi le yí ge zhàoxiàngjī.

    Dad bought me a camera.

    Sentence #469479 from Tatoeba

How 照相 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 照 (zhào) with each of its parts in a different colour
照zhàoto shine
  • 昭bright · zhāoSound part
  • 灬fire form of 火 · huǒMeaning part

灬 hints at the meaning (fire); 昭 (zhāo) hints at the sound. Compare it with zhào.

Memory aidFire 灬 under 昭 (zhāo) “bright”: to shine, to light up, and also a photo.

The character 相 (xiāng) with each of its parts in a different colour
相xiàngappearance
  • 木tree · mù
  • 目eye · mù

Memory aidAn eye 目 looking at a tree 木: to look at, and so “each other”.

How to write 照相

照 13 strokes · 相 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 照相

Words with 照

照顾zhàogu · take care of护照hùzhào · passport照片zhàopiàn · picture拍照pāizhào · to take a photo照相机zhàoxiàngjī · camera照zhào · to shine按照ànzhào · according to执照zhízhào · licence照常zhàocháng · as usual参照cānzhào · to refer to

Words with 相

相信xiāngxìn · to believe相机xiàngjī · camera照相机zhàoxiàngjī · camera相反xiāngfǎn · opposite相同xiāngtóng · the same互相hùxiāng · each other相处xiāngchǔ · to get along (with someone)相似xiāngsì · similar相当xiāngdāng · equivalent to相对xiāngduì · relatively

More words: Hobbies, Sport & Leisure

兴趣xìngqù · interest得分défēn · to score (points)拍照pāizhào · to take a photo球场qiúchǎng · (sports) court过节guòjié · to celebrate a festival请客qǐngkè · to treat someone (to a meal)运动会yùndònghuì · sports meet做客zuòkè · to be a guest

FAQs

照相 (zhàoxiàng) means “to take a photo” or “to take a photograph”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word.
Say it zhàoxiàng: zhào with a 4th tone, then xiàng with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 照相 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhaoxiang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 照相 from the suggestions. Typing zhaoxiang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
照相 is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 5 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.