HSK 2 · Common Verbs

上班 shàngbān “to go to work” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 上班 means

  1. to go to work
  2. to be on duty
  3. to start work
  4. to go to the office

How to say 上班

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale上shàng4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale班bān1st tone, high and level

上班 in a sentence

  1. 你明天几点上班？

    Nǐ míngtiān jǐ diǎn shàngbān?

    What time do you start work tomorrow?

    Sentence #2302766 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 她走路上班。

    Tā zǒulù shàngbān.

    She walks to work.

    Sentence #13158370 from Tatoeba

  3. 我现在在上班，所以晚点打给你。

    Wǒ xiànzài zài shàngbān, suǒyǐ wǎndiǎn dǎ gěi nǐ.

    I’m at work now, so I’ll call you later.

    Sentence #333223 from Tatoeba

How 上班 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 上 (shàng) with each of its parts in a different colour
上shàngup; upper; above; previous
  • ⺊divination form of 卜 · bǔ
  • 一one · yī

Memory aidA short stroke above the line: up, on top.

The character 班 (bān) with each of its parts in a different colour
班bānteam; class; grade
  • 王king · wáng
  • 刂knife form of 刀 · dāo
  • 王king · wáng

Memory aidA knife 刂 between two pieces of jade 王: to divide into groups, a class.

How to write 上班

上 3 strokes · 班 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 上班

Words with 上

上shàng · up上午shàngwǔ · morning (forenoon)上课shàngkè · to go to class上学shàngxué · to go to school早上zǎoshang · morning晚上wǎnshang · evening上面shàngmiàn · above路上lùshang · on the road上来shànglái · to come up上去shàngqù · to go up

Words with 班

下班xiàbān · to finish work班bān · team班级bānjí · class (of students)加班jiābān · to work overtime航班hángbān · (scheduled) flight值班zhíbān · to be on duty

More words: Common Verbs

过guò · to pass卖mài · to sell跑步pǎobù · to run起床qǐchuáng · to get up说话shuōhuà · to speak踢足球tīzúqiú · to play football (football)休息xiūxi · to rest找zhǎo · to look for

FAQs

上班 (shàngbān) means “to go to work” or “to be on duty”. It is an HSK 2 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it shàngbān: shàng with a 4th tone, then bān with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 上班 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shangban with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 上班 from the suggestions. Typing shangban into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
上班 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.