Learn the top chinese verbs
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| 嗨大家好，我是殷如。 |
| (Hài dà jiā hǎo, wǒ shì Yīnrú.) |
| “Hi everyone, I’m Yinru.” |
| In this lesson, we’ll talk about the 10 most commonly used Chinese verbs in everyday life. |
| Our first verb is 吃 (chī). |
| 吃 (chī) [enunciated] |
| 吃 (chī) means “eat.” |
| Eating and food is such a big part of the Chinese culture, of course, 吃 (chī) has to be the first one in our list. |
| 吃 (chī) “eat” |
| And you can say… |
| 吃披萨 (chī pīsà) “eat pizza” |
| Or 吃饺子 (chī jiǎozi) “eat dumplings” |
| Just like in English, 吃 (chī) is to consume or take in anything solid. |
| If you’re taking in liquid, you would use 喝 (hē). |
| 喝 (hē) “drink” |
| 喝 (hē) |
| 喝咖啡 (hē kāfēi) “drink coffee” |
| Or 喝茶 (hē chá) “drink tea” |
| 吃 (chī) and 喝 (hē), right. |
| Next one on our list is 看 (kàn). |
| 看 (kàn) |
| 看 (kàn) means “look, see, watch.” |
| All of the above, anything, any activity or action you use your eyes with is 看 (kàn). Okay. And such as when you’re window shopping and someone asks, “Can I help you?” and you can just say, “I’m just looking,” 看看 (kàn kàn), okay. |
| 看看 (kàn kàn) |
| But if you’re not just window shopping, you’re really serious about buying something, you would use this verb, 买 (mǎi). |
| 买 (mǎi) |
| 买 (mǎi) is “to buy.” |
| So, are you just looking, or are you buying? |
| 是看还是买？ (Shì kàn háishì mǎi?) |
| 看 (kàn) and 买 (mǎi). |
| Okay. Next, 去 (qù). |
| 去 (qù) |
| 去 (qù) means “to go.” |
| Go, either go some place or go do something. |
| So in Chinese, we often have to put something after 去 (qù). |
| For example: |
| 去 (qù)... |
| 去机场 (qù jīchǎng) “go to the airport” |
| 去买东西 (qù mǎi dōngxī) “go buy things / buy something / go shopping” |
| Or 去吃东西 (qù chī dōngxī) “go eat something” |
| So remember, always put, you need something after 去 (qù) in a complete sentence. You would say 去 (qù) + [a place] or 去 (qù) + [an activity]. |
| Okay. |
| For example, you can use this verb after 去 (qù), 玩 (wán), or in northern part of China, people will often put 儿 (r) after the 玩 (wán) so making it 玩儿 (wánr), either 玩 (wán) and 玩儿 (wánr), they both mean “play.” Okay. You can say, 去玩儿 (qù wánr) “go play.” |
| And unlike in English, you could put an instrument or sports after “play.” |
| In Chinese, 玩儿 (wánr) is simply just to have fun, for entertaining purposes. So, for example, hanging out with friends is 玩儿 (wánr) and 去玩儿 (qù wánr) just simply means “go play, go have fun.” |
| 去 (qù) and 玩儿 (wánr) |
| Okay, next. |
| 听 (tīng) |
| 听 (tīng) [enunciated] |
| 听 (tīng) means “listen” or “hear.” |
| Anything you use your ear for is 听 (tīng). |
| And next is… |
| 说 (shuō) |
| 说 (shuō) [enunciated] |
| 说 (shuō) means “to say, talk, speak.” All of the above is 说 (shuō). |
| 说 (shuō), 听 (tīng), and 说 (shuō). Okay. |
| Next... |
| 读 (dú) |
| 读 (dú) [enunciated] |
| 读 (dú) means “read.” |
| Either read out loud or read silently, quietly, they’re both 读 (dú). |
| And after 读 (dú) is… |
| 写 (xiě) [enunciated] |
| 写 (xiě) means “write.” |
| You can say 写信 (xiě xìn) “to write a letter,” or 写邮件 (xiě yóujiàn) “to write an email” |
| Actually, the last four verbs; 听 (tīng), 说 (shuō), 读 (dú), 写 (xiě), are often use as a set phrase to describe the four important aspects of language learning, not just Chinese learning, language learning, the four linguistic abilities. |
| 听 (tīng) “listening” |
| 说 (shuō) “speaking” |
| 读 (dú) “reading” |
| 写 (xiě) “writing” |
| 听 (tīng) |
| 说 (shuō) |
| 读 (dú) |
| 写 (xiě) |
| All right! Now, let’s go over the 10 verbs one more time. |
| 吃 (chī) |
| 吃 (chī) [enunciated] |
| “eat” |
| 喝 (hē) |
| 喝 (hē) [enunciated] |
| “drink” |
| 看 (kàn) |
| 看 (kàn) |
| “look” |
| 买 (mǎi) |
| 买 (mǎi) [enunciated] |
| “buy” |
| 去 (qù) |
| 去 (qù) [enunciated] |
| “go” |
| 玩 (wán) |
| 玩 (wán) [enunciated] |
| “play” |
| 听 (tīng) |
| 听 (tīng) [enunciated] |
| “listen” |
| 说 (shuō) |
| 说 (shuō) [enunciated] |
| “speak” |
| 读 (dú) |
| 读 (dú) [enunciated] |
| “read” |
| 写 (xiě) |
| 写 (xiě) [enunciated] |
| “write” |
| Okay. Next, you’re going to hear a dialogue between two friends over the phone, okay. I’m going to read it, but while I’m reading, I want you to take note of the verb, where the verb is, and how it is used in a sentence. |
| Ready? |
| 你在干嘛？(Nǐ zài gàn ma?) |
| 我在听歌。(Wǒ zài tīng gē.) |
| One more time, a bit slower. |
| 你在干嘛？(Nǐ zài gàn ma?) [enunciated] |
| 我在听歌。(Wǒ zài tīng gē.) [enunciated] |
| Did you find it? Did you find the verb? Right, it’s right here, 听 (tīng), which means “listen.” |
| 听 (tīng) |
| And what is after 听 (tīng)? |
| 歌 (gē) |
| 歌 (gē) means “song.” |
| So, 听歌 (tīng gē) together, it’s a verb phrase meaning listening, “listen to songs” or “listen to music.” Actually, 听歌 (tīng gē) is a very native way to say “listen to music” because most of the time, most of the time, when we listen to music, we listen to songs with a lyric. |
| So, 我听歌 (wǒ tīng gē) means “to listen to music.” |
| And the whole sentence goes… |
| 我在听歌 (wǒ zài tīng gē), which means “I’m listening to music.” |
| 我在听歌。(Wǒ zài tīng gē.) [enunciated] |
| Okay. |
| So what is the first line? What’s the question? |
| 你在干嘛？(Nǐ zài gàn ma?) [enunciated] |
| 你在干嘛？(Nǐ zài gàn ma?) means “What are you doing?” |
| 你在干嘛？(Nǐ zài gàn ma?) |
| 你在干嘛？(Nǐ zài gàn ma?) is very common, a very colloquial way to ask, “What are you doing?” And 你在干嘛？(Nǐ zài gàn ma?) is often used as a small talk between close friends and people who know each other very well. |
| 你在干嘛？(Nǐ zài gàn ma?) |
| 我在听歌。(Wǒ zài tīng gē.) |
| So, if you’re not listening to music, let’s say you’re watching TV, okay, do you remember how to say “watch” or “look” and “see”? Yes, 看 (kàn). |
| 看 (kàn) |
| Okay, and TV in Chinese is 电视 (diànshì), okay. |
| 电视 (diànshì) |
| So, 看电视 (kàn diànshì) means “to watch TV.” |
| So, “I’m watching TV” is 我在看电视。(Wǒ zài kàn diànshì.) |
| 我在看电视。(Wǒ zài kàn diànshì.) |
| Now, how about you are eating, you’re having dinner? |
| Remember how to say “eat”? |
| 吃 (chī) |
| So, 吃什么呢？ (chī shénme ne?), 吃 (chī) what? |
| Dinner in Chinese is 晚饭 (wǎnfàn). |
| 晚饭 (wǎnfàn) literally is “late meal” or “evening meal” or “dinner.” |
| 吃晚饭 (chī wǎnfàn) “eat dinner” or “have dinner.” |
| So, “I’m eating dinner” is 我在吃晚饭。(Wǒ zài chī wǎnfàn.) |
| 我在吃晚饭。(Wǒ zài chī wǎnfàn.) |
| Now, here is our pattern. |
| Okay. To say you are doing something, “I’m doing something,” okay, you can use, 我 (wǒ) + 在 (zài) + a [verb] and oftentimes, a verb is followed with an [object]. Okay. |
| 我 (wǒ) + 在 (zài) + [verb] [object] |
| 我 (wǒ) means “I.” |
| And 在 (zài), 在 (zài), literally, it means “at,” but when 在 (zài) is followed by a verb, 在 (zài) does not mean “at.” You can see 在 (zài) in this case as a progressive tense marker, so whenever you see a 在 (zài) with a verb, that means something is happening right now, 在 (zài) + [verb] and + [object]. |
| “I am doing something” or literally is “I at something that…” |
| “I am doing something” is our pattern here. |
| 我 (wǒ) + 在 (zài) + [verb] [object] |
| For example: |
| 我 在 (Wo zài) + [verb] 听 (tīng) + [object] 歌 (gē). |
| 我在 (Wǒ zài) + [verb] 看 (kàn) + [object] ]电视 (diànshì). |
| 我在 (Wǒ zài) +[verb] 吃 (chī) + [object] 晚饭 (wǎnfàn.) |
| Okay. |
| 我 (wǒ) + 在 (zài) + [verb] [object] |
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