后悔後悔 hòuhuǐ — to regret
hòuhuǐ (fourth tone, falling)hou4hui3
Traditional: 後悔
to regret
HSK 4· HSK 1–4 (classic)verb
Meanings
to regret
To look back, 后, and feel 悔, remorse — regret arrives only after the fact, never before. It almost always names what was or was not done, most often with 没: 后悔没听你的话, regret not having listened.
verb
Example sentences
- 我很后悔没听爸爸的话。我很後悔沒聽爸爸的話。Wǒ (third tone, dipping) hěn (third tone, dipping) hòuhuǐ (fourth tone, falling) méi (second tone, rising) tīng (first tone, high and level) bàba (fourth tone, falling) de (neutral tone) huà. (fourth tone, falling)···
I really regret not listening to my father.
- 现在后悔也没有用了，我们继续努力吧。現在後悔也沒有用了，我們繼續努力吧。Xiànzài (fourth tone, falling) hòuhuǐ (fourth tone, falling) yě (third tone, dipping) méiyǒu (second tone, rising) yòng (fourth tone, falling) le, (neutral tone) wǒmen (third tone, dipping) jìxù (fourth tone, falling) nǔlì (third tone, dipping) ba. (neutral tone)···
Regretting it now is no use — let’s keep working hard.
Common mistakes
Not quite我做错了，我后悔。
Correct我做错了，我很后悔。／我后悔做错了这件事。
Bare 后悔 sounds unfinished — Chinese wants either a degree word in front (很后悔) or the regretted thing named after it, unlike English "I regret it," which can stand alone.