相信
to believe; to trust
HSK level
- Pinyin
- xiāngxìn
- Part of speech
- verb
- Level
- HSK 3
- Strokes
- 18
- Register
- neutral
- In episodes
- 1
Stroke order for 相信
相信 is written with 18 strokes (相: 9, 信: 9). The animation replays automatically.
What does 相信 mean?
相信 (xiāngxìn) is the verb 'to believe / to trust.'
It takes a person or a statement as object: 我相信你 (I trust you), 我相信他说的话 (I believe what he said). Two distinctions matter for English speakers. First, 相信 is stronger than 'think' — don't use it to mean 'I believe (= think) it will rain.' For that opinion sense, use 觉得 (juéde) or 认为 (rènwéi).
相信 implies real conviction or trust in a person/claim. Second, 'believe in' (a religion, in someone's ability) is also 相信, but the religious sense 'believe in God' is usually 信 alone (信上帝). The character makeup is transparent: 相 (mutual) + 信 (trust / letter / believe) — 'mutually trust.' The negation is 不相信; for emphatic disbelief, native speakers also say 才不相信 ('absolutely don't believe it').
Character by character
Memory hook: 相 (mutual) + 信 (trust) — 'mutual trust' = to believe / trust.
Hear 相信 in real episodes
相信 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.
说到底，钱是大家一起相信的一个东西。
In the end, money is something we all believe in together.
Pokémon Cards as Doomsday Money
Example sentences
我相信你。
Wǒ xiāngxìn nǐ.
I trust you.
neutral
他不相信这是真的。
Tā bù xiāngxìn zhè shì zhēn de.
He doesn't believe this is real.
neutral
要相信自己，你一定可以的。
Yào xiāngxìn zìjǐ, nǐ yídìng kěyǐ de.
Believe in yourself — you can definitely do it.
spoken
我相信他说的话。
Wǒ xiāngxìn tā shuō de huà.
I believe what he said.
neutral
对不起，我真的很难相信。
Duìbuqǐ, wǒ zhēn de hěn nán xiāngxìn.
Sorry, I really find it hard to believe.
spoken
Common phrases with 相信
Synonyms
信 alone also means 'to believe / trust' but feels more abrupt and is often used for religion or short emphatic statements (我不信 = 'I don't buy it'). 相信 is the standard polite/neutral form in most sentences.
Don't confuse 相信 with
相同 means 'the same / identical.' Same first character 相, but the meaning is unrelated. 我们的想法相同 = 'our ideas are the same'; 我相信他 = 'I trust him.'
信 alone can mean 'letter' (a written message) as well as 'believe.' 写信 = 'write a letter'; 相信 = 'to believe.' Context distinguishes.
信任 means 'trust' specifically (often as a noun: 'I have trust in him'). 相信 is closer to 'believe.' You 相信 a statement; you 信任 a person's character.
FAQ
Related words from the same episodes
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