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死sǐto die

HSK 4word

By Chinese Copilot · Last updated

死 (sǐ) means "to die." Separately, Adj. + 死了 intensifies an unpleasant adjective to mean "extremely," as in 忙死了 for extremely busy—a figurative exaggeration, not literal death. Keep the verb sense and this degree pattern apart when you learn them.

What does 死 mean?

  1. 1.

    to dieverb

  2. 2.

    extremelyadverb

What does the character 死 mean?

  • 死to die

How do you use 死?

Grammar patterns

  1. 1

    Adj. + 死了

    Put 死了 after an (often unpleasant) adjective to intensify it to "extremely." It is a degree complement, not literal death.

The verb 死 means to die; the Adj. + 死了 pattern is everyday exaggeration for degree and does not mean someone actually died.

Patterns

  • Noun + 死了

    鱼死了。

    Yú sǐ le.

    The fish died.

  • Adj. + 死了

    今天忙死了。

    Jīntiān máng sǐ le.

    Today was so extremely busy!

What are some examples of 死 in a sentence?

  1. HSK 2

    鱼死了。

    Yú sǐ le.

    The fish died.

  2. HSK 3

    树死了。

    Shù sǐ le.

    The tree died.

  3. HSK 1

    今天忙死了。

    Jīntiān máng sǐ le.

    Today was so extremely busy!

  4. HSK 1

    我忙死了！

    Wǒ máng sǐ le!

    I'm extremely busy!

How is 死 used in a conversation?

  1. Speaker A:

    你的鱼怎么样？

    Nǐ de yú zěnmeyàng?

    How is your fish?

  2. Speaker B:

    鱼死了。

    Yú sǐ le.

    The fish died.

  3. Speaker A:

    今天忙吗？

    Jīntiān máng ma?

    Are you busy today?

  4. Speaker B:

    忙死了！

    Máng sǐ le!

    Extremely busy!

  5. Speaker A:

    那棵树还好吗？

    Nà kē shù hái hǎo ma?

    Is that tree still okay?

  6. Speaker B:

    树死了。

    Shù sǐ le.

    The tree died.

Can you use 死 correctly?

0 of 3 answered
  1. 1.Fill in the blank: 今天忙___！
  2. 2.Which sentence uses 死 as "to die"?
  3. 3.Does 忙死了 mean someone died of busyness?

What should you learn next?

Related words

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English glosses on this page are adapted from CC-CEDICT, published by MDBG (snapshot 2026-10-23), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Glosses were edited for learners.