开始

Character by character

• 开kāi4 strokesHSK 1 traditional 開open; initiate, begin, start
• 始shǐ8 strokesHSK 2begin, start; then, only then

Each character links to its stroke order page with a tracing and a writing exercise.

Example sentences

• 我们开始吧。

  Wǒ men kāi shǐ ba

  Let's start.

  Listen

• 从头开始吧。

  Cóng tóu kāi shǐ ba

  Let's start over.

  Listen

• 什么时候开始？

  Shén me shí hou kāi shǐ

  What time does it start?

  Listen

• 有什么要开始了。

  Yǒu shén me yào kāi shǐ le

  Something is starting to happen.

  Listen

Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR), contributed by their community.

Words with the same characters

These words share at least one character with 开始. Reading them together is how the character starts to stick — the same characters in a different context.

• 开kāiHSK 1

  to open (transitive or intransitive); (of ships, vehicles, troops etc) to start; to turn on; to put in operation; to operate; to run; to boil; to write out (a prescription, check, invoice etc); (directional complement) away; off; carat (gold); abbr. for Kelvin, 开尔文; abbr. for 开本, book format

• 离开lí kāiHSK 2

  to depart; to leave

• 开心kāi xīnHSK 2

  to feel happy; to rejoice; to have a great time; to make fun of sb

• 打开dǎ kāiHSK 1

  to open; to show (a ticket); to turn on; to switch on

• 公开gōng kāiHSK 3

  open; overt; public; to make public; to release

• 开车kāi chēHSK 1

  to drive a car

• 开发kāi fāHSK 3

  to exploit (a resource); to open up (for development); to develop

• 始终shǐ zhōngHSK 3

  from beginning to end; all along

• 开放kāi fàngHSK 3

  to bloom; to open; to be open (to the public); to open up (to the outside); to be open-minded; unrestrained by convention; unconstrained in one's sexuality

• 展开zhǎn kāiHSK 3

  to unfold; to spread out; to open up; to launch; to carry out

• 分开fēn kāiHSK 2

  to separate; to part

• 开口kāi kǒuHSK 7

  to open one's mouth; to start to talk

• 改革开放gǎi gé kāi fàngHSK 7

  to reform and open to the outside world; refers to Deng Xiaoping's policies from around 1980

• 开玩笑kāi wán xiàoHSK 1

  to play a joke; to make fun of; to joke

• 召开zhào kāiHSK 4

  to convene (a conference or meeting); to convoke; to call together

• 开会kāi huìHSK 1

  to hold a meeting; to attend a meeting

• 开通kāi tōngHSK 6

  to open (a new road or railway line); to set up (a hotline); to launch (a service); to subscribe to (a members-only service)

• 原始yuán shǐHSK 5

  first; original; primitive; original (document etc)

• 开工kāi gōngHSK 7

  to begin work (of a factory or engineering operation); to start a construction job

• 拉开lā kāiHSK 4

  to pull open; to pull apart; to space out; to increase

• 开枪kāi qiāngHSK 7

  to open fire; to shoot a gun

• 开启kāi qǐHSK 7

  to open; to start; (computing) to enable

• 开展kāi zhǎnHSK 3

  to launch; to develop; to unfold; (of an exhibition etc) to open

• 开除kāi chúHSK 7

  to expel (a member of an organization); to fire (an employee)