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太

tài
adverb HSK 1 #67

Meanings

  1. 1 too (much)
  2. 2 very
  3. 3 extremely

Examples

太好了！
Tài hǎo le!
Great! / Wonderful!
这个太贵了。
Zhège tài guì le.
This is too expensive.
太谢谢你了！
Tài xièxie nǐ le!
Thank you so much!

Tips

grammar
太...了 is the common pattern. It can mean 'too' (negative: 太贵了 — too expensive) or 'so/very' (positive: 太好了 — so great!).
mistakes
太 usually needs 了 at the end: 太好了, not just 太好. The exception is negative sentences: 不太好 (not very good) — no 了 needed.

Components

radical
大 dà
big; large
The 'big' character — a person with arms stretched wide. Sits as the body of 太.
ideograph
丶 zhǔ
intensifier dot
A small dot tucked under 大 — pushes the meaning past 'big' into 'too much, supreme, beyond'.

Stroke Order

太 tài