始 (shǐ) means Begin (start). Below are 24 of the 62 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 始 终没有放弃。
Tā shǐzhōng méiyǒu fàngqì.
He never gave up from beginning to end.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 始终
新学期即将开 始 。
Xīn xuéqī jíjiāng kāishǐ.
The new term is about to begin.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 即将
请保留原 始 数据。
Qǐng bǎoliú yuánshǐ shùjù.
Please keep the original data.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 原始
我们决定重新开 始 。
Wǒmen juédìng chóngxīn kāishǐ.
We decided to start over.
Dictionary example · HSK 4 · 重新
她 始 终相信这件事。
Tā shǐzhōng xiāngxìn zhè jiàn shì.
She has believed this all along.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 始终
会议马上就要开 始 了。
Huìyì mǎshàng jiù yào kāishǐ le.
The meeting is about to start.
Dictionary example · HSK 3 · 马上
学校下周开 始 放暑假。
Xuéxiào xià zhōu kāishǐ fàng shǔjià.
The school starts its summer holiday next week.
Dictionary example · HSK 4 · 放暑假
Reading these is one thing; producing 始 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
两年前，我决定开 始 跑步。
liǎng niánqián, wǒ juédìng kāishǐ pǎobù.
Two years ago I decided to start running.
Graded reader · HSK 4 · Keeping Up Running
刚开 始 的时候，我觉得有点儿累。
gāng kāishǐ de / dì shíhou, wǒ juéde yǒudiǎn ér lèi / léi / lěi.
At first I found that a bit tiring.
Graded reader · HSK 2 · My Chinese Teacher
刚开 始 休息的时候，我特别不习惯。
gāng kāishǐ xiūxi de / dì shíhou, wǒ tèbié bù xíguàn.
At first I found resting extremely uncomfortable.
Graded reader · HSK 4 · Facing Pressure
刚开 始 说的时候，我心里很不舒服。
gāng kāishǐ shuō de / dì shíhou, wǒ xīnlǐ hěn bù shūfu.
The first few times I said it, it felt awful.
Graded reader · HSK 4 · Learning to Say No
如果我不开 始 ，五年以后我还是三十五岁。
rúguǒ wǒ bù kāishǐ, wǔ nián yǐhòu wǒ háishì sānshí wǔ suì.
If I didn't start, in five years I'd be thirty-five anyway.
Graded reader · HSK 4 · A Decision at Thirty
他们说：“三十岁了，现在开 始 会不会太晚？”
tāmen shuō:" sānshí suì le / liǎo / liào, xiànzài kāishǐ huìbùhuì tài wǎn?"
They said, "You're thirty — isn't it a bit late to start now?"
Graded reader · HSK 4 · A Decision at Thirty
我们认识四年了，从大学一年级开 始 就住在一个宿舍。
wǒmen rènshi sìnián le / liǎo / liào, cóng dàxué yī niánjí kāishǐ jiù zhù zài yīgè sùshè.
We'd known each other four years, sharing a dorm since our first year at university.
Graded reader · HSK 4 · Saying Goodbye
三十岁生日那天，我做了一个决定：我要重新开 始 学画画。
sānshí suì shēngrì nà / nèi tiān, wǒ zuòle yīgè juédìng: wǒ yāo chóngxīn kāishǐ xué huà huà.
On my thirtieth birthday I made a decision: I was going to start learning to paint again.
Graded reader · HSK 4 · A Decision at Thirty
如果我现在开 始 ，五年以后我三十五岁，也许能画得不错。
rúguǒ wǒ xiànzài kāishǐ, wǔ nián yǐhòu wǒ sānshí wǔ suì, yěxǔ néng huà dé / děi / de búcuò.
If I started now, in five years I'd be thirty-five and could probably paint quite well.
Graded reader · HSK 4 · A Decision at Thirty
那位老先生跟我说：“我七年前开 始 的。我唯一后悔的是没有更早开 始 。”
nàiwèi lǎo xiānsheng gēn wǒ shuō:" wǒ qī niánqián kāishǐ de / dì. wǒ wéi / wěi yī hòuhuǐ de / dì shì méiyǒu gèng / gēng zǎo kāishǐ."
The elderly gentleman said to me, "I started seven years ago. My only regret is not starting sooner."
Graded reader · HSK 4 · A Decision at Thirty
然后我做了一件我自己都没想到的事：我笑着说，“对不起，我太紧张了，我们重新开 始 。”
ránhòu wǒ zuòle yíjiàn wǒ zìjǐ dōu méi xiǎngdào de / dì shì: wǒ xiào zhāo / zhaó / zhe / zhù / zhuó shuō," duìbuqǐ, wǒ tài jǐnzhāng le / liǎo / liào, wǒmen chóngxīn kāishǐ."
Then I did something I hadn't expected of myself: I smiled and said, "Sorry, I'm too nervous — let's start again."
Graded reader · HSK 4 · My First Speech
From the travel phrasebook
始 appears in 62 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 始
Each of these has sentences of its own, so you can see the character doing a different job in each one.
Questions about 始
How is 始 used in a sentence?
This page shows 62 sentences using 始 (shǐ, "Begin (start)"), 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 始 inside a longer word?
Because that is where a single character usually lives. Seeing 始 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 始?
The dictionary page for 始 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 始, 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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