Chinese Conversation · Level 24
90 words
Chinese word
告诉
Pronunciation
Pinyingào sù
Meaning
- verbtell
Example
我会告诉你真相。wǒ huì gào sù nǐ zhēn xiàng
I will tell you the truth.
More examples
老师告诉大家明天我们有课。lǎo shī gào sù dà jiā míng tiān wǒ men yǒu kè
The teacher told everyone that we have class tomorrow.
Core concept
Passes a fact, message, or piece of news to another person so it becomes known.
Common phrases
告诉我gào sù wǒ
tell me
告诉大家gào sù dà jiā
tell everyone
告诉朋友gào sù péng yǒu
tell a friend
Similar words
说shuō: To express an idea, fact, or message aloud in words.
Definition in Chinese
把信息、事情或消息告诉别人，使对方知道或了解。bǎ xìn xī shì qíng huò xiāo xī gào sù bié rén shǐ duì fāng zhī dào huò liáo jiě
Word origin
告 (gào, "announce") and 诉 (sù, "explain a matter") join in 告诉 (gàosù, "to tell") to express making information known to someone.
Usage tips
- The receiver can be left unspoken when the context already identifies that person, but the information being passed still follows the verb naturally.
Other meanings
- informverb
- sayverb
- reportverb