HSK 5 · Function Words

总共 zǒnggòng “altogether” in Chinese

Traditional 總共

What 总共 means

  1. altogether
  2. in sum
  3. in all
  4. in total

How to say 总共

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale总zǒng3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale共gòng4th tone, falling

总共 in a sentence

  1. 总共有五十个人。

    Zǒnggòng yǒu wǔshí ge rén.

    There were fifty people in all.

    Sentence #1529520 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我今天总共买了十本书。

    Wǒ jīntiān zǒnggòng mǎi le shí běn shū.

    I bought ten books altogether today.

    Sentence #868345 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 总共 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
The character 共 (gòng) with each of its parts in a different colour
共gòngcommon
  • 廾two hands · gǒng
  • 一one · yī
  • 八eight · bā

Memory aidTwo hands 廾 holding something up together: together, shared.

How to write 总共

总 9 strokes · 共 6 strokes

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

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

Words related to 总共

Words with 总

总zǒng · always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)总算zǒngsuàn · at long last总之zǒngzhī · in a word总和zǒnghé · sum总而言之zǒng'éryánzhī · in short

Words with 共

公共汽车gōnggòng qìchē · bus一共yígòng · altogether共gòng · altogether共同gòngtóng · common共鸣gòngmíng · resonance共计gòngjì · to total共和国gònghéguó · republic

More words: Function Words & Grammar

逐步zhúbù · progressively主动zhǔdòng · to take the initiative自从zìcóng · since (a time)自动zìdòng · automatic总算zǒngsuàn · at long last总之zǒngzhī · in a word作为zuòwéi · as (in the role of)甭béng · don’t

FAQs

总共 (zǒnggòng) means “altogether” or “in sum”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it zǒnggòng: zǒng with a 3rd tone, then gòng with a 4th 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, 总共 is written 總共. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zonggong with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 总共 from the suggestions. Typing zonggong into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
总共 is an HSK 5 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.