Chinese word

吧

Pronunciation

Pinyinba

Meaning

  • particlelet's

Example

我们现在走吧。wǒ men xiàn zài zǒu ba

Let's leave now.

Illustration for 吧 (let's)

More examples

好吧，我们现在开始。hǎo ba wǒ men xiàn zài kāi shǐ

Okay, let's start now.

Core concept

A soft turn at the end of a sentence that leaves room for agreement, acceptance, or a tentative conclusion.

Common phrases

  • 好吧hǎo ba

    okay

  • 走吧zǒu ba

    Let's go

  • 吃吧chī ba

    Let's eat

Similar words

吗ma: Turns a statement into a question with a yes-or-no answer.
呢ne: Adds a light question about what is continuing or happening now.
了le: Marks a completed action or a new state.

Definition in Chinese

吧是句末助词，用来征求对方同意或表示建议，语气比直接陈述或命令更委婉。ba shì jù mò zhù cí yòng lái zhēng qiú duì fāng tóng yì huò biǎo shì jiàn yì yǔ qì bǐ zhí jiē chén shù huò mìng lìng gèng wéi wǎn

Word origin

吧 (ba, "sentence-final particle") uses 口 (kǒu, "mouth") + 巴 (bā, "sound marker"), a meaningful part and a sound part that form the written character.

Usage tips

  • The same ending can fit a plan, a guess, or a check for agreement, so its exact meaning comes from the whole sentence and the speaker's tone.

Other meanings

  • probablyparticle
  • okayinterjection
  • rightparticle

Word lists with this word