Dictionary › 一辈子

一辈子

yī bèi zi

Old HSK 5 HSK 3.0 level 6 3-character word Traditional 一輩子

一辈子 (yī bèi zi) means "(for) a lifetime". It is an HSK 3.0 level 6 word, and was HSK 5 in the old six-level list.

What 一辈子 means

1. (for) a lifetime

The characters in 一辈子

• 一yīone; single; a (article)
• 辈bèilifetime; generation; group of people
• 子zinoun suffix, as in 椅子

Example sentences

• 他穷了一辈子。
  He has been poor all his life.
• 我想我会一辈子单身。
  Wǒ xiǎng wǒ huì yībèizi dānshēn.
  I guess I'm never going to get married.
• 这活儿我干了一辈子。
  I've done this all my life.
• 我一辈子都是个流浪者。
  Wǒ yībèizi dōu shì gè liúlàngzhě.
  I'm a nomad for life.
• 他一辈子都在和时间赛跑。
  Tā yībèizi dōu zài hé shíjiān sàipǎo.
  His life is a neverending race against time.
• 一辈子只会出现一次像这样的机会。
  Yībèizi zhǐ huì chūxiàn yīcì xiàng zhèyàng de jīhuì.
  An opportunity like this only comes along once in a lifetime.

Where 一辈子 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of Expectation & Time Spans (HSK 5), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 5 word, with the rest of its level.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read yī bèi zi correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.