How to say “put in effort” in Chinese

下功夫

xiàgōngfu

put in effort, work hard

expression · HSK 6 · topic “Talent and mastery”

“Put in effort” in Chinese is 下功夫, xià gōng fu: the meaning, a recording of how it sounds, the characters stroke by stroke and examples.

How to pronounce it

下功夫 is read xià gōng fu: 3 syllables. The tone is part of the word: with another melody you get another word, or just a jumble of sounds.

xià — 4th tonesharply falling, like “Stop!”

gōng — 1st tonehigh and level, like a long note

fu — neutral toneshort and unstressed

How to write it

下

xià — below, under

A stroke under a line.

功

gōng — merit; work, effort

On the left, 工 gōng “work” hints at the sound; on the right, 力 “strength”.

夫

fū — husband, man

In 丈夫 it is read with the neutral tone.

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 “下功夫”.

Examples

Sentences from the course lessons with 下功夫. Tap the sound icon to listen.

学好汉语要下功夫xuéhǎoHànyǔyàoxiàgōngfuTo learn Chinese well, you have to put in the effort.
你要在发音上下功夫。nǐyàozàifāyīnshangxiàgōngfuYou need to work on your pronunciation.
我要在发音上下功夫wǒyàozàifāyīnshangxiàgōngfuI need to work on my pronunciation.
我们要在口语上下功夫wǒmenyàozàikǒuyǔshangxiàgōngfuWe need to work on our speaking.

More words from the lesson “Putting in the effort”

Look up another word in the Chinese–English dictionary: in English, in pinyin or in characters.

Frequently asked questions

How do you say “put in effort” in Chinese?

“Put in effort” in Chinese is 下功夫, pinyin xià gōngfu.

What does 下功夫 mean?

下功夫 (xià gōngfu) means “put in effort, work hard”.

How do you write 下功夫?

下功夫 is 3 characters: 下 (xià) — below, under; 功 (gōng) — merit; work, effort; 夫 (fū) — husband, man. The stroke order of each one is shown step by step on this page.

How do you pronounce 下功夫?

下功夫 is read xià gōngfu. Tones: xià — fourth tone, gōng — first tone, fu — neutral tone. The page has an audio recording.

“put in effort” in the lesson “Putting in the effort”

This word is from the topic “Talent and mastery” of HSK 6. 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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