花落知多少

huā luò zhī duōshǎo

quotation

Meanings

1 how many blossoms have fallen, who can say?
2 who knows how many flowers have dropped
3 (lit.) flowers fallen - know how many?

Characters

Examples

HSK 6

人生若只如初见，那些错过的日子，花落知多少？

Rénshēng ruò zhǐ rú chū jiàn, nàxiē cuòguò de rìzi, huā luò zhī duōshǎo?

If only life stayed as fresh as the first meeting - how many days have we lost like fallen blossoms?

HSK 7-9

一夜春雨过后，她推开窗叹道：花落知多少。

Yí yè chūnyǔ guòhòu, tā tuīkāi chuāng tàn dào: huā luò zhī duōshǎo.

After a night of spring rain, she pushed open the window and sighed, 'How many blossoms have fallen?'

Tips

history

From Meng Haoran's Tang-dynasty poem 《春晓》 (Spring Dawn). Full quatrain: 春眠不觉晓, 处处闻啼鸟. 夜来风雨声, 花落知多少 - the sleeper hears birdsong, remembers last night's storm, and wonders how many petals the wind took down. The gentle, half-rhetorical question is the poem's famous punchline.

usage

Quoted to suggest quiet loss - falling petals stand in for any passing beauty or irrecoverable time. Read 知 here as 'who knows' (an understated question), not 'I know.'

Stroke Order

花 huā

落 luò

知 zhī

多 duō

少 shǎo