(bǎ) - to take, handle; disposal marker in Mandarin
bǎTraditional: 把
Translation
to take, handle; disposal marker
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Word origin
把 is a phono-semantic compound: the hand radical 扌 indicates a grasping action, and 巴 (bā) gives the sound. Its core sense of taking hold or handling reflects the hand radical.
- Origin
- phono-semantic compound
- Root
- 扌 (hand radical) + 巴 (bā, phonetic)
Stroke order
把
Examples
。
Please close the door.
。
He put the book on the table.
。
I left my phone at home.
。
She opened the window.
。
Please throw the rubbish away.
把 (bǎ) is the marker of the "disposal construction" - one of the most important grammatical structures in Mandarin. A 把 sentence moves the object before the verb to emphasise what happens to it: 我关门 (I close the door) becomes 我把门关上 (I closed the door shut), emphasising the disposal or result affecting the object. The verb in a 把 sentence must carry a resultative or directional complement or some other element showing completion.
The character originally depicted a hand grasping a handle, and its literal meaning "handle, grip" is preserved in measure-word uses like 一把刀 (a knife, literally "one handle of knife") and 一把椅子 (a chair). This concrete meaning of grasping/handling underlies the abstract grammatical function of disposing of or doing something to an object.
Where this fits
Appears in 1 word
Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 把.
Used in
Stories
(19)谁的椅子？
1 min read · Core 1000
发错了
2 min read · Core 1000
小公园里的音乐
3 min read · Core 1000
看医生
3 min read · Core 1000
迷路
3 min read · Core 1000
一起做饭
3 min read · Core 1000
老样子
4 min read · Core 1000
等了三年
5 min read · Core 5000
山不见了
5 min read · Core 5000
后面的字
5 min read · Core 5000
今天不开门
5 min read · Core 5000
看场合
5 min read · Core 1000
楼上的声音
5 min read · Core 5000
那两分呢？
5 min read · Core 5000
三条腿
5 min read · Core 5000
一直开
5 min read · Core 5000
有钱没时间
5 min read · Core 5000
中间的树
5 min read · Core 5000
走廊上的翻译
5 min read · Core 5000
Grammar articles
(16)Advanced Mandarin Grammar (C1-C2, HSK 6): What Changes
Mandarin 把 (bǎ) Construction: Rules, Examples, Mistakes
The Mandarin 被 (bèi) Passive: Rules and Examples
Mandarin Grammar Cheatsheet: The Essentials, One Page
Chinese Characters and Radicals: How Hanzi Are Built
Mandarin Measure Words (Classifiers): The Core 12 and 个
Mandarin Directional Complements: 走出来, 拿出去, 站起来
Mandarin Four-Character Idioms: The Patterns Behind Them
Intermediate Mandarin Grammar (B1-B2, HSK 4-5)
Even in Mandarin: The 连...都/也 Construction
Mandarin Potential Complements: 听不懂, 吃不完, 买不起
Mandarin Resultative Complements: 看见, 吃完, 找到
Mandarin Topic-Comment Structure: Fronting the Object
Unless and In Case in Mandarin: 除非, 万一 and 要不是
Chinese Sentence Structure: Mandarin Word Order Rules
Mandarin 以 (yǐ): 以为, 以及, 以便, 以免 and 以来
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Mandarin · Free printables
把: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "把" (to take, handle; disposal marker): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
This word is taught in chapter 2, lesson 4: 把, 会, 来 and 7 more words.