HSK 3 · Function Words

跟 gēn “to follow” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 跟 means

  1. to follow
  2. go with
  3. heel
  4. to follow closely
  5. (of a woman) to marry sb
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • with
  • compared with

How to say 跟

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale跟gēn1st tone, high and level

跟 in a sentence

  1. 穿上衣服，然后跟我们来！

    Chuānshang yīfu, ránhòu gēn wǒmen lái!

    Get dressed, then come with us!

    Sentence #7767676 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 她是跟她朋友一起去旅行的。

    Tā shì gēn tā péngyou yìqǐ qù lǚxíng de.

    She went travelling with her friend.

    Sentence #2737433 from Tatoeba

  3. 您愿意跟我换座位吗？

    Nín yuànyì gēn wǒ huàn zuòwèi ma?

    Would you be willing to swap seats with me?

    Sentence #512054 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 跟 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 跟 (gēn) with each of its parts in a different colour
跟gēnheel
  • 足foot · zúMeaning part
  • 艮stopping · gěnSound part

足 hints at the meaning (foot); 艮 (gěn) hints at the sound. Compare it with gēn.

How to write 跟

跟 13 strokes

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

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

Words related to 跟

Words with 跟

跟前gēnqián · in front of跟随gēnsuí · to follow跟踪gēnzōng · to track

More words: Particles & Connectors

而且érqiě · moreover除了chúle · besides地dì · earth多么duōme · how关于guānyú · about还是háishi · or还huán · to return或者huòzhě · or

FAQs

跟 (gēn) means “to follow” or “go with”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it gēn: gēn with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 跟 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type gen with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 跟 from the suggestions. Typing gen into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
跟 is an HSK 3 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.