大
big; large; (of age) old
HSK level
- Pinyin
- dà
- Part of speech
- adjective
- Level
- HSK 1
- Strokes
- 3
- Register
- neutral
- In episodes
- 2
Stroke order for 大
大 is written with 3 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
What does 大 mean?
大 (dà) is the basic Chinese adjective for 'big' or 'large' — in physical size, quantity, intensity, or importance.
It functions both as a stand-alone predicate (这个房子很大 — this house is big) and as a prefix to a noun (大问题 — a big problem). Two uses surprise English speakers: first, 大 also marks AGE for people — 你多大？ literally 'you how big?' means 'how old are you?' for anyone older than a small child.
Second, 大 attaches to nouns to form fixed compounds like 大学 (university, lit. 'big study'), 大家 (everyone), 大概 (roughly). Like most Chinese adjectives, 大 normally takes 很 (hěn) before it in plain affirmative sentences — 很大 — even when no real 'very' is intended.
Memory hook: 大 is a person (人) with arms spread wide — showing how BIG something is.
Hear 大 in real episodes
大 appears in 2 Fluentide podcast episodes 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.
一个八十岁的人，头上有一个大帽子。
An eighty-year-old man has a big hat on his head.
Lula Wins Brazil's Presidency at 80 — A Comeback Over Flávio Bolsonaro by 52% to 48%
家里的猫大，这只猫小。
The cats in the home are big; this cat is small.
New Wild Cat Species Discovered in Bolivia After 100 Years — The Tilcayo Tiger Cat
Example sentences
这个苹果很大。
Zhè gè píngguǒ hěn dà.
This apple is big.
spoken
你今年多大？
Nǐ jīnnián duō dà?
How old are you this year?
spoken
他是我的大哥。
Tā shì wǒ de dà gē.
He is my older brother.
spoken
中国很大。
Zhōngguó hěn dà.
China is big.
neutral
Common phrases with 大
Synonyms
巨大 means 'huge / enormous' — much stronger than 大, and more written. Use 大 for everyday 'big'; 巨大 for things like 'enormous impact / huge mountain.'
Don't confuse 大 with
Frequently asked questions
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
Meet 大 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
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