StrokeFox
12345678

How to write 所 (suǒ, “place”)

所 (suǒ), an HSK 2 character, means “place”, “actually” and “classifier”. China and Japan order its strokes differently: Chinese stroke 2, going downwards, is the 4th in Japanese schools; Chinese stroke 3, going rightwards then down and right then down and left, is the 2nd in Japanese schools. On its own it is an HSK 5 word; it also forms 所以 (“therefore”), 所有 (“all”) and 厕所 (“toilet”). Japanese reads it sho, “place”, as a JLPT N3 kanji.

Pinyin
suǒ
Strokes
8
HSK
2
Radical
户 (“a household”)

Stroke by stroke

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8

As a left-right character it splits into 户 (“a household”, the radical), strokes 1–4; 斤 (“axe”), strokes 5–8, written the left part first.

  1. topdownwards → down and left
  2. top leftdownwards
  3. leftrightwards → down and right → down and left
  4. leftrightwards
  5. top rightleftwards
  6. topdownwards → down and left
  7. centerrightwards
  8. rightdownwards

Names of the strokes

Two stroke orders

Japan and China order its strokes differently: 3 strokes sit in another place. Japanese 2 = Chinese 3; Japanese 3 = Chinese 4; Japanese 4 = Chinese 2.

12345678
Japanese · KanjiVG · 8 strokes
12345678
Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 8 strokes

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Pinyin and meaning

PinyinMeaningsTraditionalIn words
suǒ
third tone		place; actually; classifier for houses, small buildings, institutions etc; that which; particle introducing a relative clause or passive—所以 所有 厕所 场所
HSK 2025 syllabus
level 2
2021 standard
level 2
HSK 2.0
in a level 2 word
Words with it
183 in CC-CEDICT

Words with 所

WordPinyinMeaning
所suǒactually; place HSK 5
所以suǒyǐtherefore; as a result HSK 2
所有suǒyǒuall; to have HSK 4
厕所 廁所cèsuǒtoilet; lavatory HSK 4
场所 場所chǎngsuǒlocation; place HSK 5
派出所pàichūsuǒlocal police station HSK 5
之所以zhīsuǒyǐ(after a noun N and before a predicate P) the reason why N P… HSK 6
众所周知 眾所周知zhòngsuǒzhōuzhī(idiom) as everyone knows HSK 6
无所谓 無所謂wúsuǒwèito be indifferent; not to matter HSK 6
所在suǒzàiplace; location HSK 7-9

HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).

Practice sheet

Print at 100%. Several characters: worksheet maker.

Keep going

HSK 2, in list order: