言 (yán) means Speak (speech - talk - words). Below are 24 of the 55 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
他会说三种语 言 。
Tā huì shuō sān zhǒng yǔyán.
He can speak three languages.
Dictionary example · HSK 1 · 说
语 言 在不断演变。
Yǔyán zài búduàn yǎnbiàn.
Language is constantly evolving.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 演变
会上他第一个发 言 。
Huì shàng tā dì yī ge fāyán.
He spoke first at the meeting.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 发言
语 言 是交流的工具。
Yǔyán shì jiāoliú de gōngjù.
Language is a tool for communication.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 工具
语 言 是交际的工具。
Yǔyán shì jiāojì de gōngjù.
Language is a tool for communication.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 交际
语 言 也在不断进化。
Yǔyán yě zài búduàn jìnhuà.
Language too is constantly evolving.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 进化
语 言 是交流的媒介。
Yǔyán shì jiāoliú de méijiè.
Language is the medium of communication.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 媒介
世界上有很多种语 言 。
Shìjiè shàng yǒu hěn duō zhǒng yǔyán.
There are many languages in the world.
Dictionary example · HSK 4 · 语言
请准备一下你的发 言 。
Qǐng zhǔnbèi yíxià nǐ de fāyán.
Please prepare your remarks.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 发言
他的语 言 优势很明显。
Tā de yǔyán yōushì hěn míngxiǎn.
His language advantage is obvious.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 优势
看字幕能帮助学语 言 。
Kàn zìmù néng bāngzhù xué yǔyán.
Reading subtitles helps with language learning.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 字幕
学语 言 不能急于求成。
Xué yǔyán bù néng jíyúqiúchéng.
Learning a language cannot be rushed.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 急于求成
他履行了当初的诺 言 。
Tā lǚxíng le dāngchū de nuòyán.
He carried out the promise he made at the outset.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 履行
她有很高的语 言 天赋。
Tā yǒu hěn gāo de yǔyán tiānfù.
She has a great gift for languages.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 天赋
他为这本书写了序 言 。
Tā wèi zhè běn shū xiě le xùyán.
He wrote the preface for this book.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 序言
他的 言 论引起了争议。
Tā de yánlùn yǐnqǐ le zhēngyì.
His remarks caused controversy.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 言论
语 言 是他最大的障碍。
Yǔyán shì tā zuì dà de zhàng'ài.
Language is his biggest obstacle.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 障碍
真相往往比传 言 复杂。
Zhēnxiàng wǎngwǎng bǐ chuányán fùzá.
The truth is usually more complicated than rumour.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 真相
汉语是一种美丽的语 言 。
Hànyǔ shì yì zhǒng měilì de yǔyán.
Chinese is a beautiful language.
Dictionary example · HSK 4 · 语言
他的谎 言 很快就暴露了。
Tā de huǎngyán hěn kuài jiù bàolù le.
His lies were soon exposed.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 暴露
他对这些流 言 不屑一顾。
Tā duì zhèxiē liúyán búxièyígù.
He treated all this gossip as beneath his notice.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 不屑一顾
读书的重要性不 言 而喻。
Dúshū de zhòngyàoxìng bùyán'éryù.
The importance of reading goes without saying.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 不言而喻
中国的方 言 种类非常多。
Zhōngguó de fāngyán zhǒnglèi fēicháng duō.
China has a great many kinds of dialect.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 方言
他和奶奶说话时用方 言 。
Tā hé nǎinai shuōhuà shí yòng fāngyán.
He speaks dialect when talking with his grandmother.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 方言
Reading these is one thing; producing 言 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.
言 appears in 55 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 言
Each of these has sentences of its own, so you can see the character doing a different job in each one.
Questions about 言
How is 言 used in a sentence?
This page shows 55 sentences using 言 (yán, "Speak (speech - talk - words)"), 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 言 inside a longer word?
Because that is where a single character usually lives. Seeing 言 inside the words it builds is how the character stops being an isolated symbol and starts being something you can read.
Where can I see the full entry for 言?
The dictionary page for 言 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 言, write a sentence of your own and check it in the Pinyin Annotator, or search the whole sentence bank for another word.
Another word
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