Character: 呢 (ne) particle

呢
Pinyin ne ; ní
Meaning ne: question particle; modal particle
ní: wool
Radical 口 繁體字 same
Two writing patterns can be found in the character 呢 (ne) particle: 口, highlighted in red; and 匕, highlighted in yellow 口
匕

writing patterns, not components

Chinese character phono-semantic compoundcategory: phono-semantic compound

Chinese character left right structurestructure: left right

8stroke count

HSK 1

Stroke order of the Chinese character 呢 (ne) particle. There are 8 strokes, and the character is written first from left to right, then top to bottom

呢 (ne) is mainly used as a particle to form questions or soften one’s tone. When it is pronounced as (ní), it means “wool.”

Breakdown

呢 (ne) consists of two parts, 口 (kǒu) “mouth” and 尼 (ní) “nun.” 口 (kǒu) “mouth” is a semantic component, as well as the radical of this character. It indicates 呢 (ne) is related to speech. 尼 (ní) “nun” is a phonetic component.

ne
呢
particle		 kǒu
口
mouth		 jiào
叫
to call		 míng
名
name
ní
尼
nun		 ní
泥
mud		 nī
妮
girl

Used as a morpheme/word

呢 (ne) is a particle and not used as a morpheme. However, when 呢 is pronounced as (ní), it is mainly used as a morpheme.

Wordlist

How to pronounce

ne

(Ne) sounds like no, as in “north,” pronounced with unrounded lips.

n/a Pinyin Yale IPA
Initial n- n [n]
Final -e e [ɤ]

ní

(Ní) sounds like “knee.”

2nd Pinyin Yale IPA
Initial n- n [n]
Final -i i [i]

Chinese character practice sheet

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