HSK Guide

普通话普通話 pǔtōnghuà — Mandarin, standard spoken Chinese

pǔtōnghuà (third tone, dipping)pu3tong1hua4

Traditional: 普通話

Mandarin, standard spoken Chinese

HSK 3· HSK 1–4 (classic)noun
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Meanings

  1. Mandarin, standard spoken Chinese

    Literally "the common speech": 普通 ordinary, shared, 话 speech. It is the standard spoken form taught in schools and used on television, sitting above the local varieties rather than replacing them.

    noun

Character breakdown

  • 话話
    huà (fourth tone, falling)

    speech, words, what is said; a language or dialect; to talk about

    8 strokes⿰讠舌Radical 言

Example sentences

  • 他的普通话说得非常好。他的普通話說得非常好。Tā (first tone, high and level) de (neutral tone) pǔtōnghuà (third tone, dipping) shuō (first tone, high and level) de (neutral tone) fēicháng (first tone, high and level) hǎo. (third tone, dipping)···

    He speaks Mandarin extremely well.

  • 在中国，大家都用普通话说话。在中國，大家都用普通話說話。Zài (fourth tone, falling) Zhōngguó, (first tone, high and level) dàjiā (fourth tone, falling) dōu (first tone, high and level) yòng (fourth tone, falling) pǔtōnghuà (third tone, dipping) shuōhuà. (first tone, high and level)···

    In China everybody uses Mandarin to speak to one another.

Common mistakes

  • Not quite我在读普通话书。

    Correct我在读中文书。

    普通话 is speech — 话 says so. Books, characters and writing are 中文; the language as a school subject is 汉语. Only the spoken standard is 普通话.

Similar words

Words containing 话