Pinyin Syllable

Chinese characters pronounced za

Learn common Chinese characters pronounced za, including 杂 zá, 咱 zá / zán, 扎 zhā / zā / zhá, 砸 zá. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…

How to Pronounce This Syllable

za keeps the tongue flat behind the teeth for z (not curled), then glides into a; say it in one beat and ride the tone through.

Initial z

Use a flat tongue. It is not English “z”.

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 (杂 zá, 咱 zá / zán, 扎 zhā / zā / zhá, 砸 zá) and lock in their tones. 4 common characters share the sound za, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.

Learn by Tone

za turns up here with 2 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: 扎 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

扎zhā / zā / zháto tie; to bind; tie with string or ribbon; bind with rope or cord; to stop; to prick

2nd tone

Taking the 2nd tone here: 杂, 咱, 砸 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

杂zámixed; miscellaneous; various; to mix 咱zá / zánwe (incl.); we (incl.)砸zásmash; smashed

Common Words With This Sound

Seeing za inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.

杂志zá zhìmagazine 复杂fù zácomplicated; complex 杂交zá jiāoto hybridize; to crossbreed; promiscuity 咱们zán menwe or us (including both the speaker and the person(s) spoken to); (dialect) I or me; (dialect) (in a coaxing or familiar way) you 这咱zhè zánnow; at this moment 那咱nà zanat that time (old)挣扎zhēng zháto struggle 驻扎zhù zhāto station; to garrison (troops)扎实zhā shistrong; solid; sturdy; firm 打砸dǎ záto smash up; to vandalize

Characters

4 common characters in this group.

Character#1 杂 zámixed; miscellaneous; various; to mixTraditional: 雜 Character#2 咱 zá / zánwe (incl.); we (incl.)Traditional: 咱 Character#3 扎 zhā / zā / zháto tie; to bind; tie with string or ribbon; bind with rope or cord; to stop; to prickTraditional: 扎 Character#4 砸 zásmash; smashedTraditional: 砸