花 huā — flower

Meanings

1. 1

   flower

   A flower, and 花 in the mass: 公园里的花 is "the flowers in the park" without any plural marking. A single bloom is 一朵花.

   noun
2. 2

   to spend (money or time)

   verb

   The two senses share a character but not a construction. As a verb 花 wants two things after it: how much, and on what — 花了两个小时写作业, 买这本书花了三十块钱.

Character breakdown

• 花

  huā (first tone, high and level)

  flower, blossom; patterned, multicoloured; to spend (money or time)

  7 strokes⿱艹化Radical 艸

Example sentences

• 公园里的花很好看。/公園裡的花很好看。Gōngyuán (first tone, high and level) li (neutral tone) de (neutral tone) huā (first tone, high and level) hěn (third tone, dipping) hǎokàn. (third tone, dipping)···

  The flowers in the park are lovely.

• 我花了两个小时写作业。/我花了兩個小時寫作業。Wǒ (third tone, dipping) huāle (first tone, high and level) liǎng (third tone, dipping) ge (neutral tone) xiǎoshí (third tone, dipping) xiě (third tone, dipping) zuòyè. (fourth tone, falling)···

  I spent two hours on my homework.

Common mistakes

• Not quite我花了这本书三十块钱。

  Correct我买这本书花了三十块钱。

  花 does not take the thing bought as its object. Name the action first — 买这本书 — and let 花 report what it cost you.

Similar words