国家
country; nation; state
HSK level
- Pinyin
- guójiā
- Part of speech
- noun
- Level
- HSK 3
- Strokes
- 18
- Register
- neutral
- Measure word
- 个
- In episodes
- 1
Stroke order for 国家
国家 is written with 18 strokes (国: 8, 家: 10). The animation replays automatically.
What does 国家 mean?
国家 (guójiā) means a 'country' or 'nation' — a sovereign political entity with land, people, and government.
It is the standard everyday word for 'country' (我去过五个国家 — I've been to five countries) and also covers 'state' in the sense of nation-state (国家政策 — national / state policy). The two characters together originally meant 'country and family,' reflecting the old idea that a nation is an extended household. Two notes for English speakers: first, when you want to say someone's home country, 国家 is fine, but Chinese also has 祖国 (zǔguó — 'motherland / homeland') for an emotional, patriotic sense. Second, for the U.
S. 'state' as in Texas or California, use 州 (zhōu); 国家 specifically means an independent country, not a sub-unit. As a modifier ('national'), 国家 + noun is extremely productive: 国家队 (national team), 国家公园 (national park).
Character by character
Memory hook: 国 'country' + 家 'home' — a country is the home of its people: nation.
Hear 国家 in real episodes
国家 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
有的国家想在那里有基地，要三个地方都说好。
If some countries want a base there, all three places must say yes.
Greenland Security Deal Signed: Two New US Bases, Sovereignty Stays
Example sentences
你去过几个国家？
Nǐ qù guò jǐ gè guójiā?
How many countries have you been to?
spoken
中国是一个大国家。
Zhōngguó shì yī gè dà guójiā.
China is a big country.
neutral
他想为自己的国家工作。
Tā xiǎng wèi zìjǐ de guójiā gōngzuò.
He wants to work for his country.
neutral
世界上有很多国家。
Shìjiè shàng yǒu hěn duō guójiā.
There are many countries in the world.
neutral
Common phrases with 国家
Synonyms
祖国 means 'motherland / homeland' — emotionally charged, used patriotically about one's own country (我爱我的祖国 — I love my motherland). 国家 is neutral and refers to any country, including one's own.
国 alone often appears inside country names (中国, 美国, 法国) but rarely stands alone as a noun meaning 'country' in modern Chinese. For 'a country,' use the full 国家.
Don't confuse 国家 with
Frequently asked questions
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
Meet 国家 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
You just saw 国家 in 1 episode. Fluentide keeps feeding you news episodes at your level, so this word — and thousands like it — resurface in real sentences until they stick. Full pinyin and translation every time. Free to start.