HSK 2 · Common Verbs

打篮球 dǎlánqiú “to play basketball” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 打篮球 means

  1. to play basketball

How to say 打篮球

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale打dǎ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale篮lán2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale球qiú2nd tone, rising

打篮球 in a sentence

  1. 我不打篮球。

    Wǒ bù dǎlánqiú.

    I don’t play basketball.

    Sentence #9958369 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 打篮球很有趣。

    Dǎlánqiú hěn yǒuqù.

    Playing basketball is a lot of fun.

    Sentence #2333763 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 打篮球 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 打 (dǎ) with each of its parts in a different colour
打dádozendǎ in 打篮球
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒuMeaning part
  • 丁part of the characterSound part

Memory aidA hand 扌 striking a nail 丁: to hit. It is now used for many actions, such as 打电话 (dǎ diànhuà) “to phone”.

The character 篮 (lán) with each of its parts in a different colour
篮lánbasket
  • ⺮bamboo form of 竹 · zhúMeaning part
  • 监to supervise · jiānSound part

⺮ hints at the meaning (bamboo); 监 (jiān) hints at the sound. Compare it with lán.

The character 球 (qiú) with each of its parts in a different colour
球qiúball used for playing games
  • 王king · wángMeaning part
  • 求to seek · qiúSound part

王 hints at the meaning (king); 求 (qiú) hints at the sound. Compare it with qiú.

Memory aidJade 王 with 求 (qiú) for the sound: a round bead of jade, so a ball.

How to write 打篮球

打 5 strokes · 篮 16 strokes · 球 11 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

打篮球 (dǎlánqiú) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 打篮球 (dǎlánqiú). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 打篮球

Words with 打

打电话dǎ diànhuà · to make a phone call打dǎ · to hit打车dǎchē · to take a taxi (in town)打开dǎkāi · to open打扫dǎsǎo · to clean打算dǎsuàn · to plan打扮dǎban · to decorate打扰dǎrǎo · to disturb打印dǎyìn · to print (with a printer)打折dǎzhé · to give a discount

Words with 篮

篮球lánqiú · basketball

Words with 球

球qiú · ball篮球lánqiú · basketball足球zúqiú · football踢足球tīzúqiú · to play football (football)球场qiúchǎng · (sports) court网球wǎngqiú · tennis地球dìqiú · the earth乒乓球pīngpāngqiú · table tennis羽毛球yǔmáoqiú · shuttlecock球迷qiúmí · fan (ball sports)

More words: Common Verbs

能néng · can会huì · can爱ài · to love坐zuò · to sit懂dǒng · to understand过guò · to pass卖mài · to sell跑步pǎobù · to run

FAQs

打篮球 (dǎlánqiú) means “to play basketball”. It is an HSK 2 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it dǎlánqiú: dǎ with a 3rd tone, then lán with a 2nd tone, then qiú with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 打篮球 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type dalanqiu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 打篮球 from the suggestions. Typing dalanqiu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
打篮球 is an HSK 2 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.