常 (cháng) means Often (common). Below are 24 of the 215 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
明天照 常 上课。
Míngtiān zhàocháng shàng kè.
Classes go ahead as usual tomorrow.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 照常
溪水非 常 清凉。
Xī shuǐ fēicháng qīngliáng.
The stream water is cool and clear.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 溪
这是很正 常 的事。
Zhè shì hěn zhèngcháng de shì.
This is a perfectly normal thing.
Dictionary example · HSK 4 · 正常
当地人非 常 热情。
Dāngdì rén fēicháng rèqíng.
The local people are very warm.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 当地
他平 常 六点起床。
Tā píngcháng liù diǎn qǐchuáng.
He usually gets up at six.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 平常
他最近 常 常 失眠。
Tā zuìjìn chángcháng shīmián.
He often cannot sleep lately.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 失眠
Reading these is one thing; producing 常 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
李老师上课非 常 认真。
lǐ lǎoshī shàng kè fēicháng rènzhēn.
Teacher Li is extremely conscientious in class.
Graded reader · HSK 2 · My Chinese Teacher
汉字很难，我 常 常 写错。
hànzì hěn nán, wǒ chángcháng xiě cuò.
Chinese characters are hard and I often write them wrong.
Graded reader · HSK 1 · Learning Chinese
他不能 常 常 回家，我很想他。
tā bùnéng chángcháng huíjiā, wǒ hěnxiǎng tā.
He can't come home often, and I miss him a lot.
Graded reader · HSK 1 · My Family
我的汉语不太好，丽丽 常 常 帮我。
wǒ de(possessive) hànyǔ bù tài hǎo / hào, lí lí chángcháng bāng wǒ.
My Chinese isn't very good, and Lili often helps me.
Graded reader · HSK 1 · My Friend Lili
窗户外边有一棵树，上边 常 常 有鸟。
chuāng hùwài biān yǒu yī kē shù, shàng biān chángcháng yǒu niǎo.
Outside the window there's a tree, and there are often birds in it.
Graded reader · HSK 2 · My New Room
回到家还要继续做， 常 常 两点才睡。
huídào jiā háiyāo jìxù zuò, chángcháng liǎng diǎn cái shuì.
I'd carry on at home and often didn't get to bed until two.
Graded reader · HSK 4 · Facing Pressure
我当时非 常 生气，直接把她的微信删了。
wǒ dāngshí fēicháng shēngqì, zhíjiē bǎ tā de / dì wēi xìn shān le / liǎo / liào.
I was furious and deleted her from WeChat there and then.
Graded reader · HSK 4 · A Misunderstanding
车站里人非 常 多，我等了半个小时才买到票。
chēzhàn lǐ rén fēicháng duō, wǒ děng le / liǎo / liào bànge xiǎoshí cái mǎi dào piào.
The station was packed; I queued half an hour before I got a ticket.
Graded reader · HSK 2 · The Train to Shanghai
医院里等的人非 常 多，我们等了一个多小时。
yīyuàn lǐ děng de / dì rén fēicháng duō, wǒmen děng le / liǎo / liào yīgè duō xiǎoshí.
There were a lot of people waiting; we waited over an hour.
Graded reader · HSK 2 · Going to the Doctor
上山的路很长，我们走了三个小时，非 常 累。
shàngshān de / dì lù hěn cháng / zhǎng, wǒmen zǒule sān gè xiǎoshí, fēicháng lèi / léi / lěi.
The path up was long; we walked three hours and were exhausted.
Graded reader · HSK 2 · A Trip With Friends
等着付钱的人非 常 多，我排了二十分钟的队。
děngzhe fù qián de / dì rén fēicháng duō, wǒ pái le / liǎo / liào èrshí fēnzhōng de / dì duì.
There were a lot of people waiting; I queued for twenty minutes.
Graded reader · HSK 2 · At the Supermarket
我把辞职的想法告诉家里的时候，爸爸非 常 生气。
wǒ bǎ cízhí de / dì xiǎngfǎ gàosu jiālǐ de / dì shíhou, bàba fēicháng shēngqì.
When I told my family I was thinking of resigning, my father was furious.
Graded reader · HSK 4 · Changing Jobs
常 appears in 215 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 常
Each of these has sentences of its own, so you can see the character doing a different job in each one.
Questions about 常
How is 常 used in a sentence?
This page shows 215 sentences using 常 (cháng, "Often (common)"), 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 常 inside a longer word?
Because that is where a single character usually lives. Seeing 常 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 常?
The dictionary page for 常 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 常, write a sentence of your own and check it in the Pinyin Annotator, or search the whole sentence bank for another word.
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