落 (là) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

落

là[la4]Tone 4

to leave out, to fall behind

HSK 3

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · to leave out, to fall behind

Cached lesson

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:12

Writing Balance Rule: The grass radical at the top must crown the structure evenly, while the lower right component anchors the character without letting it tilt to the left.

1. Meaning

To leave behind, drop, or fall behind in a race or progress.

To leave out or omit something by oversightTo be missing or left behind accidentallyTo station or settle (used in compounds like 落户)

VerbColloquial (when pronounced là as a common colloquial reading)#motion#omission#progress

Sample Usage

你落了一本书在教室。
Nǐ là le yī běn shū zài jiàoshì.
You left a book behind in the classroom.
快点走，别落在后面。
Kuài diǎn zǒu, bié là zài hòumian.
Walk faster, don't fall behind.

2. Sound

/[la⁵¹]/Tone: 51

落

làla4

`(51)

=là

Initial Consonant

Type: Alveolar Lateral

Sounds like: English l sound

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Air flows freely around both sides of tongue.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge right behind upper front teeth while voicing.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: ah sound as in father

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ah'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and drops abruptly, matching an emphatic command like 'Stop!' or 'Down!'.

👂

Listening trap: Often confused with the more common reading luò (falling/descending), but là is specifically used colloquially for leaving things behind or omitting them.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, forceful downward karate chop, starting high in the air and plunging straight down to represent a drop.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 12 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The grass radical at the top must crown the structure evenly, while the lower right component anchors the character without letting it tilt to the left.

4. Components

Radical 艹 · Grass Radical (Plants, vegetation, or growth)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 艹 (Relates originally to foliage or growth settling downwards)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 洛 (original sound: luò)

The grass radical (艹) sits atop the water and market components (洛), symbolizing leaves falling from plants into water or being left behind.

艹 Grass / Foliage
洛 Phonetic and structural base

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

2· Phonetic Root: 洛 (luò)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combined the idea of grass/plants (艹) with a phonetic indicator (洛) indicating things dropping or descending like falling leaves.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from the physical act of leaves dropping to general falling, descending, and eventually colloquially to leaving things behind or omitting them.

The character has multiple readings (là, luò, luō), each specialized for different semantic domains in modern Mandarin.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

lạc

Corresponds to entering tone (thế nhập) ending in stop consonants historically, matching checked syllables.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ラク / Kun: お.とす, お.ちる

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

락

Sound Shift Bridge: Shared ancient Sinitic roots lead to similar readings across East Asian languages.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine walking through tall grass (艹) and realizing you dropped and left behind your keys, causing you to lag (là) behind your friends.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

落

luòto fall / descendStandard literary reading for falling.

洛

luòLuoyang river nameUses water radical instead of grass.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

漏(lòu)

漏 means to leak (with water radical), whereas 落 with grass means to drop or leave behind.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我的钥匙[___]在家里了。

Clue: là

Common Learner Pitfall

Using the literary reading luò when speaking colloquially about leaving keys or items behind, instead of the correct conversational reading là.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 落 mean when pronounced là in conversational Mandarin?

Production: How do you write and pronounce the character meaning 'to leave behind' or 'forget to bring'?

落làto leave out, to fall behind

Speed:

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