Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced da
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced da, including 大 dà, 打 dá / dǎ, 达 dá, 答 dā / dá, 搭 dā. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
da joins the initial d to the final a in one motion — say it as a single Mandarin beat with the tone over it, not as English letters in a row.
Initial d
Start the syllable on the initial d, then run straight into the final a — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final a
Settle the final a into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (大 dà, 打 dá / dǎ, 达 dá, 答 dā / dá, 搭 dā) and lock in their tones. 5 common characters share the sound da, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
da turns up here with 3 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 答, 搭 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 打, 达 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 大 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing da inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
5 common characters in this group.