How to Say “Read” in Chinese? 读 Du, 阅读 Yuedu, 看 Kan Mandarin
Chinese Verbs – Read | 读 Du, 看 Kan, 发音 Fayin and Chinese Nouns – Reading | 阅读 Yuedu in Mandarin
Read in Chinese primary meaning is 读 Dú and 阅读 Yuèdú. There are also a few other secondary words which also imply Read in Mandarin. They are 看 Kàn, 发音 Fāyīn and 念 Niàn which will be explained more in detail as you read on.
Understanding Read in Chinese is especially useful when you start learning Mandarin. I’ m sure you have a lot of Chinese words that you do not know how to read and want to ask someone to teach you how to read.
How to Say My Name in Chinese?
Many people would be interested to know how to say and read their name in Chinese. So here it goes.
How to say my name in Chinese?
我的名字用中文怎么读？
Wǒ de míng zì yòng zhōng wén zěn me dú?
What is my name? How to read in Chinese?
我的名字叫什么？用中文怎么读？
Wǒ de míng zì jiào shén me? Yòng zhōng wén zěn me dú?
If you want to learn to say “How to write your name in Mandarin“, check out the next post on “How to Write in Chinese“.
Difference Between 遍 and 篇 | Bian and Pian
It is worth noting that the measure word or frequency associating Read in Chinese is 遍 Biàn, which means “times” or “number of times“. You can replace the second character with other Chinese Ordinal Numbers to indicate the frequency.
| Read once | 读一遍 | Dú yībiàn |
| Read twice | 读两遍 | Dú liǎng biàn |
| Read a few times | 读几遍 | Dú jǐ biàn |
| Read many times | 读很多遍 | Dú hěnduō biàn |
Do not confuse遍 Biàn with 篇 Piān although both words look similar in writing and also related to Reading and Read in Chinese.
篇 Piān can denote a sheet (Measure Word), a page, a chapter, Chinese Measure Word for articles/essay.
If you pronounce the two words wrongly, ‘read once 读一遍‘ can be heard and understood as ‘read a page 读一篇‘. Nevertheless, you will read some examples below how we use the two words 遍 Biàn with 篇 Piān.
You can get some Pinyin Pronunciation Practice on Hearing the Difference between B and P Sound and how to pronounce them correctly.
① Read in Chinese – 读 Du
How to read this word?
怎么读这个字？／这个字怎么读？
Zěn me dú zhè ge zì? / Zhè ge zì zěn me dú?
I read it this way, is it correct?
我这么读，对吗？
Wǒ zhè me dú, duì ma?
Have you (plural) finished reading? Have you finished reading the article?
你们读完了吗？你读完文章了吗?
Nǐ men dú wán liǎo ma? Nǐ dú wán wén zhāng le ma?
Did you read this book? Have you read this book before?
你读了这本书吗？你读过这本书吗？
Nǐ dú le zhè běn shū ma? Nǐ dú guò zhè běn shū ma?
Until where have you read/study?
你读到哪里了？
Nǐ dú dào nǎ lǐ le?
I have read so many times and still do not understand.
我读了很多遍，还是看不懂。
Wǒ dú le hěn duō biàn, hái shì kàn bù dǒng.
Please read once. Please read one more time for me to hear.
请读一遍。请再多读一遍给我听。
Qǐng dú yī biàn. Qǐng zài duō dú yī biàn gěi wǒ tīng.
How many articles did you read?
你读了几篇文章？
Nǐ dú le jǐ piān wén zhāng?
I have read two drafts. I am not satisfied (with both).
我读了两篇稿。我都不满意。
Wǒ dú le liǎng piān gǎo. Wǒ dū bù mǎn yì.
Do you have a habit of reading the newspaper? Do you like to read the newspaper?
你有读报纸的习惯吗？你喜欢看报纸吗？
Nǐ yǒu dú bào zhǐ de xí guàn ma? Nǐ xǐ huān kàn bào zhǐ ma?
Have you read the news today?
你读了今天的新闻吗？
Nǐ dú le jīn tiān de xīn wén ma?
Have your child started schooling?
你的孩子开始读书了吗？
Nǐ de hái zi kāi shǐ dú shū le ma?
Although 读 Dú represents Read in Chinese, it can also mean “Study“. 读书 Dúshū is literally “Read Book” and equivalent to the meaning “study” and “going to school“.读书 Dúshū has a strong association with the word Studying rather than reading a book.
② Read in Chinese – 看 Kan
If you want to imply that you are reading a book, 看书 Kànshū would be a better word to use rather than 读书 Dúshū as it does not have an ambiguous meaning.
看 Kàn signifies Look and See in Chinese. However, we use 看 + ‘Reading Material‘ to express it as Read in Chinese.
For instance, we can use two Chinese Verbs – 读 Dú and 看 Kàn to:-
- Read the newspaper 读报纸 Dú bàozhǐ or 看报纸 Kàn bàozhǐ
- Read the news 读新闻 Dú xīnwén
- Watch the news 看新闻 Kàn xīnwén
Below are five examples which stress on the usage of 看 Kàn as Read in Chinese. Other than that, the use of 看 Kàn is quite limited if you want to use this word as Read in Mandarin.
I love to read. Reading is my hobby.
我很爱看书。看书是我的嗜好。
Wǒ hěn ài kàn shū. Kàn shū shì wǒ de shì hào.
I go online to read the news every day.
我每天都上网看新闻。
Wǒ měi tiān dū shàng wǎng kàn xīn wén.
Reading more Chinese newspapers can improve Mandarin reading comprehension.
多看中文报纸能提高汉语阅读理解。
Duō kàn zhòng wén bào zhǐ néng tí gāo hàn yǔ yuè dú lǐ jiě.
I like reading fashion magazines. It can give me some inspiration for clothing coordination.
我喜欢看时尚杂志。它能给我一些搭配灵感。
Wǒ xǐ huān kàn shí shàng zá zhì. Tā néng gěi wǒ yī xiē dā pèi líng gǎn.
Come and read this article./Take a look at this article. How well-written!
来看看这篇文章。写的多么好！
Lái kàn kàn zhè piān wén zhāng. Xiě de duō me hǎo!
③ Read and Reading in Chinese – 阅读 Yuedu
阅读 Yuèdú is a noun which means Reading in Chinese. It can also be a verb – Read in Chinese. 读 Dú is a general verb whereas 阅读 Yuèdú, used as a verb, has a meaning of reading and understanding the content of a subject thoroughly. 阅读 Yuèdú is used more as a Mandarin noun than as a verb.
Reading is my interest. My hobby is reading.
阅读是我的兴趣。我的爱好是阅读。
Yuè dú shì wǒ de xìng qù. Wǒ de ài hào shì yuè dú.
Reading can increase knowledge.
阅读能够增加知识。
Yuè dú néng gòu zēng jiā zhī shì.
Usually, I like to read magazines.
平时，我喜欢阅读杂志。
Píng shí, wǒ xǐ huān yuè dú zá zhì.
I have the habit of reading newspapers.
我有阅读报刊的习惯。
Wǒ yǒu yuè dú bào kān de xí guàn.
④ Read Aloud in Chinese – 念 Nian
念 Niàn is a less common way to say Read in Mandarin. You are most likely to hear this word from a teacher in the class asking the students to read. The meaning of念 Niàn is to read aloud.
The Chinese word念 Niàn itself implies missing someone. Therefore, you are not likely to infer 念 Niàn as Read in Chinese in a typical conversation other than from the mouth of a teacher.
Read once for me to hear.
念一遍给我听。
Niàn yī biàn gěi wǒ tīng.
⑤ Pronounce in Mandarin – 发音 Fayin
If you want to ask someone how to read Hanyu Pinyin, as in the pronunciation or intonation of the word, you can use 发音 Fāyīn. You can also replace the word发音 Fāyīn in the sentences below with 读 Dú. 发音 Fāyīn can act as a noun – Pronunciation, or a verb – Pronounce in Mandarin.
How to read/pronounce this (Chinese Pinyin) word?
这个字怎么发音？
Zhè ge zì zěn me fā yīn?
Did I pronounce it correctly this way?
我这样发音对吗？
Wǒ zhè yàng fā yīn duì ma?
Your pronunciation is not correct.
你的发音不正确。
Nǐ de fǎ yīn bù zhèng què.
This pronunciation is right.
这样发音就对了。
Zhè yàng fā yīn jiù duì le.
The pronunciation of this Hanyu Pinyin, why is it so difficult to read?
这个汉语拼音的发音，怎么这么难读？
Zhè ge hàn yǔ pīn yīn de fǎ yīn, zěn me zhè me nán dú?
If you are inspired to learn more about the Series of Chinese Pinyin, you can check out the category to learn how to pronounce them correctly. Yes, it is imperative to a decent Chinese pronunciation.
Check out more Chinese Verbs to Make you Verbal or learn the next Chinese Verb – How to Say “Write” in Chinese?
