HSK 3.0 Level 3 · Common Verbs

干 gàn “to do” in Chinese

Traditional 幹

What 干 means

  1. to do
  2. to work
  3. to manage

Also read gān: “dry”

See the page for 干 gān

How to say 干

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale干gàn4th tone, falling

干 in a sentence

  1. 你在干什么？

    Nǐ zài gàn shénme?

    What are you doing?

    Sentence #659301 from Tatoeba

  2. 你干得很好。

    Nǐ gàn de hěn hǎo.

    You did a great job.

    Sentence #482712 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 你是干什么工作的？

    Nǐ shì gàn shénme gōngzuò de?

    What do you do for work?

    Sentence #2076335 from Tatoeba

How 干 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 干 (gān) with each of its parts in a different colour
干gàntree trunk
  • 一one · yī
  • 十ten · shí

Memory aidDrawn from a forked stick used as a weapon or shield. As a simplified character it also stands for 乾 “dry” and 幹 “to do”.

How to write 干

干 3 strokes

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

干 (gàn) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 干 (gàn). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 干

Words with 干

干净gānjìng · clean饼干bǐnggān · biscuit干杯gānbēi · to drink a toast干燥gānzào · dry (weather干脆gāncuì · simply能干nénggàn · capable干活儿gànhuór · to work干扰gānrǎo · to disturb干涉gānshè · to interfere干预gānyù · to intervene

More words: Common Verbs

用yòng · to use遇到yùdào · to meet站zhàn · stand照顾zhàogu · take care of安排ānpái · to arrange保护bǎohù · to protect报名bàomíng · to sign up抱bào · to hold

FAQs

干 (gàn) means “to do” or “to work”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word.
Say it gàn: gàn with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 干 is written 幹. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type gan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 干 from the suggestions. Typing gan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
Yes. Read gān, 干 means “dry”. That reading has its own page. Read gàn, it means “to do”.
Read gàn, 干 is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word in the official 2021 syllabus. The older HSK 2.0 word lists have only its other reading.

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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.