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HSK 1

喝

to drink

verbneutral2 episodes
喝
hē1st tone

HSK level

1
2
3
4
5
6
Pinyin
hē
Part of speech
verb
Level
HSK 1
Strokes
12
Register
neutral
In episodes
2

Stroke order for 喝

喝 is written with 12 strokes. The animation replays automatically.

What does 喝 mean?

喝 (hē) is the basic Chinese verb 'to drink' — used for water, tea, coffee, soup, juice, alcohol, and any other liquid you put in your mouth.

It pairs with 吃 (chī, 'to eat') as the two foundational ingestion verbs every Chinese learner meets first. Two differences from English: first, Chinese uses 喝 for soup (喝汤), whereas English speakers say 'eat soup' — in Mandarin, if it pours from a bowl or cup, you 喝 it; second, 喝 by itself can mean 'drink alcohol' depending on context (你喝吗？ asked at a meal usually means 'do you drink?'

). The character 喝 contains the 口 (mouth) radical on the left, a useful clue: most verbs involving the mouth (吃 eat, 喊 shout, 叫 call) share it.

Hear 喝 in real episodes

喝 appears in 2 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed — each with the full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.

He Took Drugs, Drank Over 20 a Day, Never Trained Once — and Came Last the First Time He Ever Competed in Bodybuilding喝 spoken at natural speedbeginnerLas Vegas Hits 111°F, New York Only 93°F, but Doctors Say New York Is More Dangerous喝 spoken at natural speedbeginner
Browse the full episode library

Example sentences

我想喝水。

Wǒ xiǎng hē shuǐ.

I want to drink water.

spoken

你喝茶还是喝咖啡？

Nǐ hē chá háishi hē kāfēi?

Will you drink tea or coffee?

neutral

妈妈在喝汤。

Māma zài hē tāng.

Mom is drinking (eating) soup.

neutral

天气热，多喝水。

Tiānqì rè, duō hē shuǐ.

The weather is hot — drink more water.

spoken

Common phrases with 喝

喝水hē shuǐdrink water
喝茶hē chádrink tea
喝咖啡hē kāfēidrink coffee
喝酒hē jiǔdrink alcohol
喝汤hē tāngdrink (eat) soup

Synonyms

饮yǐn

饮 is the literary / formal verb 'to drink,' appearing in compounds like 饮料 (drinks) and 饮水 (drinking water). In everyday speech you always say 喝, never 饮.

Don't confuse 喝 with

吃chī

吃 is 'to eat' (solid food). 喝 is 'to drink' (liquids). Note that Chinese says 喝汤 for soup, not 吃汤 — soup counts as a drink.

渴kě

渴 means 'thirsty' (adjective). Same right-side component 曷 as 喝, but different radical (氵water vs. 口 mouth). 我很渴，想喝水 = 'I'm thirsty, I want to drink water.'

和hé

和 ('and') shares the pinyin shape with 喝 but uses different tones and characters. 喝 is first tone hē; 和 is second tone hé.

FAQ

Related words from the same episodes

八eight比赛contest, competition吃to eat, to take干dry更more, -er汗sweat酒alcohol看to watch练to train热hot身体body湿wet, humid

Acquire it by listening

Meet 喝 again — in real Chinese, at your level.

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