HSK 3.0 Level 3 · Adverbs

总 zǒng “always” in Chinese

Traditional 總

What 总 means

  1. always
  2. overall
  3. total
  4. after all
  5. (bound form) general
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to sum up
  • in every case
  • invariably
  • anyway
  • eventually
  • sooner or later

How to say 总

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale总zǒng3rd tone, dipping

总 in a sentence

  1. 我总觉得渴。

    Wǒ zǒng juéde kě.

    I’m always thirsty.

    Sentence #431474 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他总喝他的黑咖啡。

    Tā zǒng hē tā de hēi kāfēi.

    He always drinks his coffee black.

    Sentence #333307 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 迟到总比不到好。

    Chídào zǒng bǐ búdào hǎo.

    Better late than never.

    Sentence #836581 from Tatoeba

How 总 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 总 (zǒng) with each of its parts in a different colour
总zǒnggeneral; overall
  • 丷eight form of 八 · bā
  • 口mouth · kǒu
  • 心heart · xīn

How to write 总

总 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 总

Words with 总

总是zǒngshì · always总结zǒngjié · to sum up总裁zǒngcái · president (of a company)总理zǒnglǐ · premier总统zǒngtǒng · president (of a country)总共zǒnggòng · altogether总算zǒngsuàn · at long last总之zǒngzhī · in a word总和zǒnghé · sum总而言之zǒng'éryánzhī · in short

More words: Adverbs & Degree

刚刚gānggāng · just now越来越yuèláiyuè · more and more就要jiùyào · about to只是zhǐshì · only看来kànlái · it seems不用búyòng · no need to常cháng · often全quán · whole

FAQs

总 (zǒng) means “always” or “overall”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word.
Say it zǒng: zǒng with a 3rd tone. 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, 总 is written 總. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zong with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 总 from the suggestions. Typing zong into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
总 is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 4 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.