HSK 3.0 Level 1 · Everyday Verbs

做饭 zuòfàn “to prepare a meal” in Chinese

Traditional 做飯

What 做饭 means

  1. to prepare a meal
  2. to cook

How to say 做饭

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale做zuò4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale饭fàn4th tone, falling

做饭 in a sentence

  1. 她会做饭。

    Tā huì zuòfàn.

    She can cook.

    Sentence #2934370 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 你家里谁做饭？

    Nǐ jiā lǐ shéi zuòfàn?

    Who does the cooking in your family?

    Sentence #5613716 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我妹妹正在厨房做饭。

    Wǒ mèimei zhèngzài chúfáng zuòfàn.

    My little sister is cooking in the kitchen.

    Sentence #401032 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 做饭 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 做 (zuò) with each of its parts in a different colour
做zuòto make; to produce
  • 亻person form of 人 · rén
  • 故reason · gù

Memory aidPerson 亻 with 故 (gù) for the sound: to do, to make.

The character 饭 (fàn) with each of its parts in a different colour
饭fàncooked rice
  • 饣eat form of 食 · shíMeaning part
  • 反reverse · fǎnSound part

饣 hints at the meaning (eat); 反 (fǎn) hints at the sound. Compare it with fàn.

How to write 做饭

做 11 strokes · 饭 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 做饭

Words with 做

做zuò · to do做到zuòdào · to accomplish做客zuòkè · to be a guest做主zuòzhǔ · to make the decision

Words with 饭

饭fàn · cooked rice饭店fàndiàn · restaurant米饭mǐfàn · cooked rice晚饭wǎnfàn · evening meal午饭wǔfàn · lunch早饭zǎofàn · breakfast饭馆fànguǎn · restaurant

More words: Everyday Verbs

唱chàng · to sing开车kāichē · to drive a car睡shuì · to sleep听见tīngjiàn · to hear帮bāng · to help打dǎ · to hit打开dǎkāi · to open动dòng · to move

FAQs

做饭 (zuòfàn) means “to prepare a meal” or “to cook”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word.
Say it zuòfàn: zuò with a 4th tone, then fàn 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, 做饭 is written 做飯. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zuofan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 做饭 from the suggestions. Typing zuofan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
做饭 is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 1 word list. It is not on the older 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.