HSK Guide

起飞起飛 qǐfēi — to take off (of an aircraft)

qǐfēi (third tone, dipping)qi3fei1

Traditional: 起飛

to take off (of an aircraft)

HSK 3· HSK 1–4 (classic)verb
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Meanings

  1. to take off (of an aircraft)

    What a plane does when it leaves the ground: 起 to rise, 飞 to fly. The plane is the subject, never the passenger and never the pilot — 飞机起飞了, not 我起飞了.

    verb

Character breakdown

  • 起
    qǐ (third tone, dipping)

    to rise, to get up, to stand up; to begin; to raise; a measure word for cases or incidents

    10 strokes⿺走己Radical 走
  • 飞飛
    fēi (first tone, high and level)

    to fly; to flit, to dart; swiftly, at speed

    3 strokesRadical 飛

Example sentences

  • 飞机就要起飞了。飛機就要起飛了。Fēijī (first tone, high and level) jiù (fourth tone, falling) yào (fourth tone, falling) qǐfēi (third tone, dipping) le. (neutral tone)···

    The plane is about to take off.

  • 我们的飞机下午三点起飞。我們的飛機下午三點起飛。Wǒmen (third tone, dipping) de (neutral tone) fēijī (first tone, high and level) xiàwǔ (fourth tone, falling) sān (first tone, high and level) diǎn (third tone, dipping) qǐfēi. (third tone, dipping)···

    Our plane takes off at three in the afternoon.

Common mistakes

  • Not quite他起飞飞机了。

    Correct飞机起飞了。

    起飞 takes no object: nothing and nobody is "taken off". The plane rises by itself, so the plane is the subject and the sentence ends there.

Similar words

Words containing 起

Words containing 飞