做饭(zuò fàn) - to cook, to make a meal in Mandarin

做饭 (zuòfàn) is the everyday verb for "to cook" or "to make a meal": 做 (zuò) means "to do, to make" and 饭 (fàn) means "rice" or, more broadly, "a meal". It is a verb-object compound, so a professional cook is not called 做饭 (zuòfàn) but 厨师 (chúshī).

You will hear it constantly at home. 谁做饭？(Shéi zuòfàn?) means "who's cooking?", and 我今天做饭 (Wǒ jīntiān zuòfàn) means "I'm cooking today". Because 做饭 (zuòfàn) is already a verb plus its object, you cannot bolt another object straight onto it the way English does with "cook dinner". Swap in a more specific noun instead: 我做晚饭 (Wǒ zuò wǎnfàn), "I'm making the evening meal", replaces the generic 饭 (fàn) with 晚饭 (wǎnfàn).

It sits alongside 煮饭 (zhǔfàn), which leans towards "boil rice" specifically since 煮 (zhǔ) means "to boil, to cook in water", and 烧饭 (shāofàn), a synonym more common in southern China where 烧 (shāo) covers general cooking. 做饭 (zuòfàn) is the safe, general-purpose choice everywhere in Mandarin-speaking regions.