How to Say "Sing" in Chinese - How To Say Guide

唱歌

chànggē

To sing in Chinese is 唱歌 (chànggē). Wiktionary also lists 唱 (chàng) and 鳴 / 鸣 (míng).

Meaning: to produce harmonious sounds with one’s voice (verb)

Ways to say it

The term 唱歌 is used to describe the general activity of singing when you are not necessarily specifying a particular song.

唱歌 is a verb-object construction where 唱 means 'to sing' and 歌 means 'song'.

While 唱 refers to human singing, 鳴 / 鸣 is used for the sounds made by animals (like birds chirping) or the ringing of objects.

chànggē

The character 唱 shares the same ancient origin as 倡, which means 'to lead' or 'to advocate'.
In modern contexts, 唱 can be used to describe the act of 'chanting' or 'reciting' opera, which differs from western singing.
The character 唱 is composed of the radical 口, meaning 'mouth', which visually signals that the action is produced by the human voice.

和我唱首歌。
Sing a song with me.
This sentence is useful for practicing the use of 唱.
Tatoeba #5723950 by xjjAstrus, translation #249616 by CM
湯姆愛唱歌。
Tom loves to sing.
This sentence is useful for practicing the use of 唱歌.
Tatoeba #6098458 by verdastelo9604, translation #1495190 by Spamster
請唱一首歌。
Please sing a song.
Tatoeba #6936228 by verdastelo9604, translation #27828 by CK
82 more sentences on Tatoeba

Wei and Zihan are at a karaoke room.

伟 Wei

梓涵，你想唱歌吗？
Zǐhán, nǐ xiǎng chànggē ma?
Zihan, do you want to sing?
梓涵 Zihan

我想，但我不擅长唱歌。
Wǒ xiǎng, dàn wǒ bù shàncháng chànggē.
I do, but I'm not good at singing.
伟 Wei

没关系，我们一起唱歌吧。
Méi guānxì, wǒmen yīqǐ chànggē ba.
It's okay, let's sing together.
梓涵 Zihan

好，那我们现在开始唱歌。
Hǎo, nà wǒmen xiànzài kāishǐ chànggē.
Okay, let's start singing now.

Sources

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