该

該
gāi
#319 most
frequent character
this,pron
pronoun

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

该 uses 讠 speech as the meaning part and 亥 hài for the sound. Its first sense was military discipline. That grew to 'how things ought to be', 'should', and 'deserve'. The sense 'that' was borrowed only for the sound.

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Example Sentences

该怎么做？
gāi zěnme zuò ？
What should be done?
该你出场了。
gāi nǐ chūchǎng le 。
It's your turn to perform.
你该知道这个消息。
nǐ gāi zhīdào zhègè xiāoxī 。
You should know this news.

Grammar Points

HSK 3
Expressing "should" with "yinggai"

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