How to say “read” in Chinese
read
“Read” in Chinese is 读, dú: the meaning, a recording of how it sounds, the characters stroke by stroke and examples.
How to pronounce it
读 is read dú. The tone is part of the word: with another melody you get another word, or just a jumble of sounds.
How to write it
On the left, 讠 “speech”.
Strokes go in order: top to bottom and left to right, horizontal before vertical. Tap a character to open its page, with the strokes shown large and the words it appears in. To train your hand, print a handwriting sheet for “读”.
Examples
Sentences from the course lessons with 读. Tap the sound icon to listen.
- 我弟弟在中学读书wǒdìdizàizhōngxuédúshūMy younger brother is in secondary school.
- 请读第二段课文qǐngdúdì’èrduànkèwénPlease read the second paragraph of the text.
- 本科一般要读四年。běnkēyìbānyàodúsìniánA bachelor's degree usually takes four years.
- 我想读研究生wǒxiǎngdúyánjiūshēngI want to go to grad school.
- 这个字有两个读音。zhègezìyǒuliǎnggedúyīnThis character has two readings.
- 多读书可以丰富自己的词汇duōdúshūkěyǐfēngfùzìjǐdecíhuìReading a lot enriches your vocabulary.
More characters by topic — happiness, luck, strength, nature — on the page “Chinese characters with meanings”.
More words from the lesson “Studying Chinese”
Look up another word in the Chinese–English dictionary: in English, in pinyin or in characters.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say “read” in Chinese?
“Read” in Chinese is 读, pinyin dú.
What does 读 mean?
读 (dú) means “read”.
How do you write 读?
读 is 1 character. The stroke order of each one is shown step by step on this page.
How do you pronounce 读?
读 is read dú. Tones: dú — second tone. The page has a native speaker recording.
“read” in the lesson “Studying Chinese”
This word is from the topic “Study, work and free time” of HSK 1. In the lesson you hear it in a dialogue, build a sentence with it and say it out loud. Start for free, no sign-up needed.
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