Learn Chinese Characters

Meaning

to speak; to talk; to converse; to chat; to discuss; (surname)

Chinese: 谈话、讨论。

Hear the Four Tones

The same syllable “tan” becomes a different word in each tone. 谈 is the 2nd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.

Stroke Order

Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.

Common Words

  • 谈判tán pànto negotiate; negotiation; talks; conference
  • 谈话tán huàto talk (with sb); to have a conversation; talk; conversation
  • 会谈huì tántalks; discussions
  • 谈论tán lùnto discuss; to talk about
  • 交谈jiāo tánto discuss; to converse; chat; discussion

Example Sentence

我们坐下来谈一谈。Wǒ men zuò xià lái tán yi tán.Let us sit down and have a talk.

我们Wǒ menwe坐下zuò xiàto sit downláito cometánto speakyionetánto speak

Go deeper

Where this character comes from

The speech radical 讠 plus 炎 (sound): to talk warmly — ‘to talk, chat, discuss, speak of; talk, conversation’ (谈话, 交谈, 谈判). Simplified from 談.

A way to remember it

Speech (讠) flowing warmly — to talk, chat (交谈, 谈判).