Use this tool to add tone marks to pinyin or to convert tone number (e.g. hao3) to tone marks.

Although you can use the red buttons to add tone marks, we highly recommend you use the number method (e.g. hao3) for speed and placement of the accent above the correct vowel. [Hint: Type "v" for "ü"]
Note: You do not need to use this tool to enter pinyin in this dictionary.

Scavenger Sunday Episode 11 – 上 (shàng)

Check out Episode 11 of Scavenger Sunday. This week Nora and Allen talk about some popular uses of the character 上.

If you can’t access YouTube, you can also check out the video on Youku!

A: Hey guys welcome back to episode 11 of the Scavenger Sunday video.
N: Is it episode 11 already?
A: Yeah..
N: Oh man, how time flies! Welcome back everyone. 欢迎光临收看我们的节目。
A: Last week we introduced you to the 上 character. So what does 上 actually mean?
N: 上 has a lot of meanings. It can mean ‘on top of’, it can mean ‘above’, it can mean ‘on’. So Allen, maybe you can give us some examples to explain how to use 上 in Chinese.
A: So, I think I can give you 2 example sentences. The first one is ‘我在楼上’, which means ‘I am upstairs.’ The second one can maybe be ‘我今天要去上学。’ That means ‘Today I want to go to school.’
N: Awww, ‘今天我不想上学。’ Which means ‘I don’t want to go to school today!’
A: Ohhh, you are so naughty…
N: I should have known that sentence as a child! So lets see some of those videos you sent us this week.

[Video montage]

A: That’s cool. Thank you everyone for sending us your great videos and photos this week.
N: Yeah, thanks everybody and we’re looking forward to seeing your videos next week! Don’t be shy!
A: So let’s have a look at the next weeks character. What’s next weeks character?
N: So next week we’re going to be looking at the character 下 (xià). 下 is a nice character to go along side 上 our word from this week because 上 and 下 basically means up and down, above and below, they’re often seen together! So for example, ‘上下车’ which means to get on or off a train or a car or another kind of vehicle so if you’ve ever been to China you’ve probably heard this a lot in the metro.
A: So I can give you 1 example sentence ‘我今天想早点下班。’ which means ‘I want to finish work early today.’
N: That’s also useful. So can you show us how to write the character?
A: Yeah, here we go?

A: Hey everyone, it’s Allen once again here to show you how to use the WCC Chinese Dictionary to find the stroke animation of the 下 character. So you can find this Chinese dictionary on our site www.writtenchinese.com/apps. So first open the app and as Nora explained earlier, 下 means down so you can search ‘down’ in the search box and tap the search button. Then you can see the 下 character is the top one of the ‘Top 3 Characters’ list, so just tap the 下 character. Tap ‘Writing’ and you can see the stroke animation of the 下 character and you will find this character is easy to write. Click the ‘More info’ for information on the 下 character. Don’t forget to download our example sentence package to check out these great example sentences as it’s more convenient for you to understand the 下 character. That’s all, thanks.

N: Thanks for that Allen, I think I can handle that one.
A: My pleasure. Don’t forget to send your photos or videos to our facebook page at www.facebook.com/written chinese
N: You can also send them to us via email at [email protected]. We’re looking forward to seeing what you’re going to send us.
A: Yeah I hope to see your great videos and photos on our facebook page next week!
N: That’s right. So have a good week and see you next time. Byeee!
A: Bye!

You can also go to the 下 page on dictionary.writtenchinese.com and leave us a video or picture there!