拍照(pāi zhào) - to take a photo in Mandarin

拍照 (pāizhào) means "to take a photo". 拍 (pāi) is "to pat, to clap, to snap", the same 拍 (pāi) as in 拍手 (pāishǒu), "to clap hands", and 照 (zhào) is "to photograph", so the compound captures the physical click of pressing the shutter.

拍照 (pāizhào) and 照相 (zhàoxiàng) overlap heavily and native speakers use them almost interchangeably for everyday snapshots, but 拍照 (pāizhào) is the more common choice in modern speech, especially with phone cameras, while 照相 (zhàoxiàng) has a slightly more old-fashioned, formal-portrait feel.

As a verb-object compound it behaves the same way as 照相 (zhàoxiàng): you cannot bolt a direct object straight onto 拍照 (pāizhào). 用手机拍照 (yòng shǒujī pāizhào), "take photos with a phone", puts the tool before the verb rather than after it, which is a useful pattern to notice once and then stop tripping over.