How to say “talk to oneself” in Chinese
talk to oneself
“Talk to oneself” in Chinese is 自言自语, zì yán zì yǔ: the meaning, a recording of how it sounds, the characters stroke by stroke.
How to pronounce it
自言自语 is read zì yán zì yǔ: 4 syllables. The tone is part of the word: with another melody you get another word, or just a jumble of sounds.
How to write it
A picture of a nose: when Chinese people say “me”, they point at their nose.
At the side of a character it shrinks to 讠.
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 “自言自语”.
More words from the lesson “By choice and under pressure”
Look up another word in the Chinese–English dictionary: in English, in pinyin or in characters.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say “talk to oneself” in Chinese?
“Talk to oneself” in Chinese is 自言自语, pinyin zìyán zìyǔ.
What does 自言自语 mean?
自言自语 (zìyán zìyǔ) means “talk to oneself”.
How do you write 自言自语?
自言自语 is 4 characters: 自 (zì) — self; 言 (yán) — word, speech; 语 (yǔ) — language, speech. The stroke order of each one is shown step by step on this page.
How do you pronounce 自言自语?
自言自语 is read zìyán zìyǔ. Tones: zì — fourth tone, yán — second tone, zì — fourth tone, yǔ — third tone. The page has a native speaker recording.
“talk to oneself” in the lesson “By choice and under pressure”
This word is from the topic “Character and behavior” 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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