普通话

Character by character

• 普pǔ12 strokesHSK 2universal, general, widespread
• 通tōng11 strokesHSK 2pass through; common; communicate
• 话huà8 strokesHSK 1 traditional 話speech, talk, language; dialect

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

Example sentences

• 我的普通话很好。

  Wǒ de pǔ tōng huà hěn hǎo

  My Chinese is very good.

  Listen

• 你会讲普通话吗？

  Nǐ huì jiǎng pǔ tōng huà ma

  Can you speak Mandarin?

  Listen

• 我明年想学普通话。

  Wǒ míng nián xiǎng xué pǔ tōng huà

  I want to learn Chinese next year.

  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 普通话. Reading them together is how the character starts to stick — the same characters in a different context.

• 话huàHSK 1

  dialect; language; spoken words; speech; talk; words; conversation; what sb said

• 通过tōng guòHSK 2

  to pass through; to get through; to adopt (a resolution); to pass (legislation); to pass (a test); by means of; through; via

• 电话diàn huàHSK 1

  telephone; phone call; phone number

• 说话shuō huàHSK 1

  to speak; to say; to talk; to gossip; to tell stories; talk; word

• 通tōngHSK 2

  to go through; to know well; (suffix) expert; to connect; to communicate; open; to clear; classifier for letters, telegrams, phone calls etc

• 打电话dǎ diàn huàHSK 1

  to make a telephone call

• 通知tōng zhīHSK 2

  to notify; to inform; notice; notification

• 普通pǔ tōngHSK 2

  common; ordinary; general; average

• 交通jiāo tōngHSK 2

  to be connected; traffic; transportation; communications; liaison

• 说实话shuō shí huàHSK 6

  to speak the truth; truth to tell; frankly

• 通常tōng chángHSK 3

  regular; usual; normal; usually; normally

• 讲话jiǎng huàHSK 2

  a speech; to speak; to talk; to address

• 的话de huàHSK 2

  if (coming after a conditional clause)

• 话题huà tíHSK 3

  subject (of a talk or conversation); topic

• 一句话yī jù huàHSK 5

  in a word; in short

• 谈话tán huàHSK 3

  to talk (with sb); to have a conversation; talk; conversation

• 通道tōng dàoHSK 6

  (communications) channel; thoroughfare; passage

• 对话duì huàHSK 2

  to talk (with sb); dialogue; conversation

• 沟通gōu tōngHSK 5

  to join; to connect; to link up; to communicate

• 通讯tōng xùnHSK 6

  communications; news story; dispatch

• 实话shí huàHSK 7

  truth

• 笑话xiào huaHSK 2

  joke; jest; to laugh at; to mock

• 通信tōng xìnHSK 3

  to correspond (by letter etc); to communicate; communication

• 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)