说
to say; to speak
HSK level
- Pinyin
- shuō
- Part of speech
- verb
- Level
- HSK 1
- Strokes
- 9
- Register
- neutral
- In episodes
- 4
Stroke order for 说
说 is written with 9 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
What does 说 mean?
说 (shuō) means 'to say / to speak / to tell.'
It's the core verb for verbal communication — 说话 (shuō huà, 'to speak / talk'), 说中文 (shuō Zhōngwén, 'speak Chinese'), 他说他来 'he says he's coming.' Two things English speakers should know: first, 说 can take a direct quote OR an embedded clause without any 'that': 他说他不来 = 'He said (that) he's not coming' — no 说他说 needed; second, 说 differs from 讲 (jiǎng) in feel: 说 is the everyday neutral verb, while 讲 leans toward 'explain / tell at length' (讲故事 'tell a story').
For 'speak a language,' both work, but 说 is more common at HSK 1: 我会说一点中文 'I can speak a little Chinese.' Also useful: 听说 (tīngshuō, 'I heard that') opens a sentence reporting hearsay.
Memory hook: 说 has the 讠 (speech) radical on the left — speech coming out is exactly what 说 does.
Hear 说 in real episodes
说 appears in 4 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.
他说 Taco Bell 的 taco 很好。
He says Taco Bell's tacos are very good.
Top Chefs Cook Fine Food and Reach for Taco Bell After Work
有人说，要走一万步。
Some people say you should walk 10,000 steps.
Must You Walk 10,000 Steps? Research Finds Benefits Around 7,000
Yu喜欢看小说。
Yu likes reading novels.
A Hubei Man Copies Tomb-Robbing Novels and Gets Twelve Years in Prison
现在很多人说他。
Now many people are talking about him.
A Senator Pays a Bakery Bill After Six Years and a Viral Post
Example sentences
你会说中文吗？
Nǐ huì shuō Zhōngwén ma?
Can you speak Chinese?
spoken
他说他不来。
Tā shuō tā bù lái.
He says he's not coming.
neutral
请你说慢一点。
Qǐng nǐ shuō màn yīdiǎn.
Please speak a little slower.
polite
我听说你病了。
Wǒ tīngshuō nǐ bìng le.
I heard you're sick.
spoken
Common phrases with 说
Synonyms
Don't confuse 说 with
话 is the NOUN 'speech / words / what someone says,' not the verb. 说话 = verb 'to speak' (literally 'say words'); just 话 alone = 'words/talk' (他的话 'what he said'). Don't say 我话中文 — say 我说中文.
Frequently asked questions
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
Meet 说 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
You just saw 说 in 4 episodes. 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.