菜 (cài) means Vegetable (dish). Below are 24 of the 80 sentences on this site that use it — with pinyin, an English translation and audio. All of them were written by hand; none is machine generated.
Dictionary examples
这个青 菜 很嫩。
Zhège qīngcài hěn nèn.
This green vegetable is very tender.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 嫩
最近 菜 价涨了。
Zuìjìn cài jià zhǎng le.
Vegetable prices have gone up recently.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 涨
你吃过中国 菜 吗？
Nǐ chī guo Zhōngguó cài ma?
Have you ever eaten Chinese food?
Dictionary example · HSK 2 · 过
厨房里的 菜 真香。
Chúfáng lǐ de cài zhēn xiāng.
The food in the kitchen smells wonderful.
Dictionary example · HSK 4 · 香
这个 菜 盐放多了。
Zhège cài yán fàng duō le.
There is too much salt in this dish.
Dictionary example · HSK 4 · 盐
妈妈在厨房炒 菜 。
Māma zài chúfáng chǎo cài.
Mother is stir-frying vegetables in the kitchen.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 炒
Reading these is one thing; producing 菜 yourself is another. Cloze in Context takes a sentence from this same bank, removes one word and asks you to put it back — beginner, intermediate and advanced.
From the graded readers
他还要了一些 菜 。
tā háiyāo le / liǎo / liào yīxiē cài.
He also ordered some vegetables.
Graded reader · HSK 1 · At the Restaurant
我们坐下，看 菜 单。
wǒmen zuòxia, kàn / kān càidān.
We sat down and looked at the menu.
Graded reader · HSK 1 · At the Restaurant
我们喜欢吃米饭和 菜 。
wǒmen xǐhuan chī mǐfàn hé cài.
We like eating rice and vegetables.
Graded reader · HSK 1 · My Day
菜 很好吃，我吃了很多。
cài hěnhǎo chī, wǒ chīle hěnduō.
The food was delicious and I ate a lot.
Graded reader · HSK 1 · At the Restaurant
我说：“吃了，我做了米饭和 菜 。”
wǒ shuō:" chīle, wǒ zuòle mǐfàn hé cài."
I said, "Yes — I made rice and vegetables."
Graded reader · HSK 1 · A Phone Call
From the travel phrasebook
有英文 菜 单吗？
Yǒu Yīngwén càidān ma?
Is there an English menu?
Travel phrasebook · Ordering in a restaurant
From the grammar library
你喜欢中国 菜 吗？
Nǐ xǐhuan Zhōngguó cài ma?
Do you like Chinese food?
Grammar library · HSK 1 · 吗 and 呢 questions
你喜不喜欢中国 菜 ？
Nǐ xǐ bu xǐhuan Zhōngguó cài?
Do you like Chinese food?
Grammar library · HSK 2 · A-not-A questions
菜 appears in 80 sentences on this site; the 24 shortest and most direct are shown. The rest are on the pages they were written for — the graded readers, the phrasebook and the grammar library.
Words that contain 菜
Each of these has sentences of its own, so you can see the character doing a different job in each one.
Questions about 菜
How is 菜 used in a sentence?
This page shows 80 sentences using 菜 (cài, "Vegetable (dish)"), each with pinyin, an English translation and audio. Every one of them was written by hand for this site.
Are these sentences machine generated?
No. They come from the site's own dictionary examples, graded readers, travel phrasebook and grammar library — all written by a person. A word with no sentence gets no page here, rather than a page of invented ones.
Why do some sentences show 菜 inside a longer word?
Because that is where a single character usually lives. Seeing 菜 inside the words it builds is how the character stops being an isolated symbol and starts being something you can read.
Is 菜 an HSK word?
Yes — 菜 is on the official HSK 1 vocabulary list, and you can study it with the rest of that list on the HSK 1 page.
Where can I see the full entry for 菜?
The dictionary page for 菜 has its stroke order, its traditional form, every sense the dictionary lists and a character-by-character breakdown. It is linked at the top of this page.
Keep going
Read the full entry for 菜, write a sentence of your own and check it in the Pinyin Annotator, drill it with HSK 1 flashcards, or search the whole sentence bank for another word.
Another word
Chinese, pinyin or English. Tone marks optional.