HSK 5 · Society

总理 zǒnglǐ “premier” in Chinese

Said as zónglǐ

Traditional 總理

What 总理 means

  1. premier
  2. prime minister

Measure word 个 gè or 位 wèi · 一个总理 yí ge zǒnglǐ

How to say 总理

  • 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 third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale理lǐ3rd tone, dipping

Said as zónglǐ. 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

总理 in a sentence

  1. 他是这个国家的总理。

    Tā shì zhè ge guójiā de zǒnglǐ.

    He is the prime minister of this country.

    Sentence #3713331 from Tatoeba

  2. 这是总理住的房子。

    Zhè shì zǒnglǐ zhù de fángzi.

    This is the house where the prime minister lives.

    Sentence #2023693 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 总理 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 理 (lǐ) with each of its parts in a different colour
理lǐtexture
  • 王king · wángMeaning part
  • 里village · lǐSound part

王 hints at the meaning (king); 里 (lǐ) hints at the sound. Compare it with lǐ.

Memory aid王 here is jade 玉: cutting jade along its grain. 里 (lǐ) gives the sound: to put in order, reason.

How to write 总理

总 9 strokes · 理 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 总理

Words with 总

总zǒng · always总是zǒngshì · always总结zǒngjié · to sum up总裁zǒngcái · president (of a company)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

Words with 理

经理jīnglǐ · manager理解lǐjiě · to comprehend理想lǐxiǎng · an ideal理发lǐfà · to get a haircut修理xiūlǐ · to repair整理zhěnglǐ · to arrange管理guǎnlǐ · to supervise办理bànlǐ · to handle处理chǔlǐ · to handle合理hélǐ · rational

More words: Society & Law

执照zhízhào · licence制度zhìdù · system (of rules)秩序zhìxù · order (orderly state)主席zhǔxí · chairperson总统zǒngtǒng · president (of a country)案件ànjiàn · legal case拜年bàinián · to give New Year greetings颁布bānbù · to promulgate

FAQs

总理 (zǒnglǐ) means “premier” or “prime minister”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it zǒnglǐ: zǒng with a 3rd tone, then lǐ with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like zónglǐ. 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.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 总理 is written 總理. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 个 (gè) or 位 (wèi). For example, one premier is 一个总理 (yí ge zǒnglǐ).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zongli with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 总理 from the suggestions. Typing zongli into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
总理 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.