# 干 / 做 / 作 / 办



## lacasito

谁可以给我四个句子为了区别那四个单词的意思？

Who could please give me four simple sentences to make clear the difference among those 4 words?

Thanks


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## JJchang

幹 means do
做 has a meaning of making something tangible. 作 means make or do something intangible. 為 means "for", it can be used as a verb but usually we don't use it like that.

我在做飯 - 飯 is tangible, so grammatically it's better than 我在作飯, even though people now mix them together. 我在幹飯 and 我在為飯 are both wrong and never heard of.
我在作工 - 工 is not a tangible thing, so we use 作. Similarly, people can understand 我在做工, but not 我在幹工, 我在為工
你幹了什麼? what have you done?, it is stronger than 你做了什麼?, but they carry the same meaning. 你為了什麼? "you for what?" (or it feels even more like "¿tu' por que'?") that's not a complete sentence and people won't understand it.

There are set phrases for 幹 you can use, otherwise try to avoid that verb to create phrases.


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## lacasito

Thank you for your help. 

To be honest, I'm still a little bit confused, since I'm not very familiar with the traditional characters. From your explanation, I guess that 幹 is 干 and 為 is 办. 

According to what you said, I deduce that:

做:hacer, producir, crear, fabricar algo concreto (to make)
作:hacer, trabajar, acción, algo abstracto (to do)

But we still say 你做什么呢？ meaning "what are you doing?" as a way to break the ice. So I deduce that this is a set phrase, because actually we don't want to ask "what are you making?" here.
 
And I still have trouble with 干and 办。

For example in: 你做什么呢？ and 你干什么？are they synonyms? If they are, I think that only a native can feel the difference in the nuances.

And I also know that 怎么办？ is a set phrase, could you give me some other examples? I didn't manage to find them.

Thank you


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## bamboopoem

lacasito said:


> Thank you for your help.
> 
> To be honest, I'm still a little bit confused, since I'm not very familiar with the traditional characters. From your explanation, I guess that 幹 is 干 and 為 is 办.
> 
> According to what you said, I deduce that:
> 
> 做:hacer, producir, crear, fabricar algo concreto (to make)
> 作:hacer, trabajar, acción, algo abstracto (to do)
> 
> But we still say 你做什么呢？ meaning "what are you doing?" as a way to break the ice. So I deduce that this is a set phrase, because actually we don't want to ask "what are you making?" here.
> 
> 
> And I still have trouble with 干and 办。
> 
> For example in: 你做什么呢？ and 你干什么？are they synonyms? If they are, I think that only a native can feel the difference in the nuances.
> 
> And I also know that 怎么办？ is a set phrase, could you give me some other examples? I didn't manage to find them.
> 
> Thank you




I think for spanish speakers, it is actually easier to understand, the four can mostly be substitued by hacer.
1. what are you doing/que haces ahora = 你在干什么呢/你在做什么呢，干/做，“在”indicating the progressive form, or "estar +gerundio"。 So, 你做什么呢/你干什么呢? can be regarded as synosyms. 
2. 你干什么?can be used in a situation when someone is doing something you can't understand, or sometimes you prefer them not to do. For example, someone is drinking your milk, you can say, 你干什么啊。
3. 怎么办。is usually used in a situation when you don't know what to do next, possibly after a series of mistakes you made, or when you're in a bad situation. For example, your novio broke up with you. you say, 我怎么办啊/我该怎么办哪。

I'm a spanish leaner, maybe we can teach each other a bit? I will be pleased to learn from a native speaker.


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## lacasito

Thank you very much for your excelent explanation. I think now it's much more clear. 

I'd be glad to help you with Spanish as much as I can.

¡Hasta luego!


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## viajero_canjeado

lacasito said:


> From your explanation, I guess that 幹 is 干 and 為 is 办.



Wrong! 办 is 辦, not 為.

Para que sepas, decir nada más el verbo 幹 es una grosería, por lo menos en Taiwan: quiere decir "coger". Claro que lo puedes emplear en otros contextos, como los ya mencionados.


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## lacasito

Jaja,  vale gracias. Pero "coger" en España significa "to grab", no significa lo mismo que en Méjico ;p


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## viajero_canjeado

Jiji, se me olvidó.. "joder" pues.


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## YangMuye

There is another thread about 做/作
both 做 and 作 can be used as a empty word, you can put 做 or 作 before another verb, 买卖 ≠ 做买卖. (like English "do", sometimes it's grammaticalized. e.g. "to shop" ≠ "do shopping" )

办 means try hard to do. 
1. 办公，办(X)事，办理，承办，办(X)案(deal with. It sounds formal and official)
2. 办好，办完，办妥(Also formal)
3. 办厂，办学，办报(found)

干 means "trunk"  "the capable".
1. 干(X)事，干(X)工作(formal than 做 in classical Chinese. rude in oral Chinese)
2. 干架，干活，干事，干女人(masculine, sometimes means "fuck". These is another similar word “搞”)

干/办 is not so grammaticalized as 做/作. The words after 干/办 are almost "干/办XXX樣的事情". "干XXX樣的事业"/"干XXX樣的工作"  may be masculine expression.


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## Ngnese

*亁*-dry(opposite to wet)，亁凈，亁燥，
*干*-defend，天干地支
*幹*-do，幹活
*榦-*three-bristle cudrania(a plant)
作-get up from the state of lying，作家，作曲，作息
做-do,make，做事，
辦-work on，辦事，辦公室，辦理

It's easy to differentiate them if you can speak Cantonese or Ngnese. In these languages, most of them are different from each other by their pronunciations. It's a pity that simplified Chinese characters screwed it up.


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## Jerry Chan

Hi Ngnese, welcome.

I've never heard of "Ngnese"? What language is it?

Moderator's Note: Discussion of "Ngnese" has moved to Ngnese


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## Suntoo

干事情
干活
干什么
手机是用来干什么的

做事情
做什么
手机是用来做什么的

上面几句用干 和做都可以的。

具体如何区分，我也不好说清楚，不过用的多了就知道如何区分了。


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## tinang

Please be carelly.

In simplified chinese, " 干 " is same as " 幹 " in traditional chinese.
(" 幹 " is invaild in simplified chinese because " 幹 " is replaced by " 干 ". Then, " 干 " = "  干 " or " 幹 ". But "  干 " and " 幹 " are the different characters & meanings in traditional chinese)

In simplified chinese, " 办  " is same as " 辦 " in traditional chinese.
(" 辦 " is invaild in simplified chinese because " 辦 " is replaced by " 办 ". Then, " 办 " = "  辦 ".  There is no " 办 " in traditional chinese because it is new created character by R.P.C)

My native language is catonese & written language is traditional chinese. I soldem use " 幹 " as "do" / "work". 

One more things, the meanings of the 干 / 做 / 作 / 办 are very similar. The case is same as the use of "do" / work" / make" in english.


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## KASANG

lacasito said:


> Thank you for your help.
> 
> .....
> 
> According to what you said, I deduce that:
> 
> 做:hacer, producir, crear, fabricar algo concreto (to make)
> 作:hacer, trabajar, acción, algo abstracto (to do)
> 
> But we still say 你做什么呢？ meaning "what are you doing?" as a way to break the ice. So I deduce that this is a set phrase, because actually we don't want to ask "what are you making?" here.
> 
> And I still have trouble with 干and 办。
> 
> For example in: 你做什么呢？ and 你干什么？are they synonyms? If they are, I think that only a native can feel the difference in the nuances.
> 
> And I also know that 怎么办？ is a set phrase, could you give me some other examples? I didn't manage to find them.
> 
> Thank you


 
Hola, here's my understanding, 

generally, 做 covers much wider than the rest, used as vt., like do + sth., make + sth. 作 used less in the form verb + n., more often, it's combined w/another word & make up a noun phrase. e.g. 作文，作业，工作
办 is more formal/business, less conversational, more often appears in noun phrase, e.g. 办公，办公室，办法，verb phrase 办理，惩办

你做什么呢？vs 你干什么？你做什么呢？could be more common than the other, quite conversational, usually between friends. = 你干什么呢/干嘛呢？if it's simply 你干什么？then it depends on the tone, more often, the speaker probably is annoyed/unhappy/angry, example/siuation, when you find someone searching you desk maybe for some documents, etc, then you may say 你干什么？ it's like What! are you doing??, more of a show of anger, cause obviously you saw/knew what he's doing, what really means is "you shouldn't do that, stop!"

怎么办？= what to do? / que hacer? usually when you're in trouble, you have some difficulty, unsovled issues, but you don't know how to fix it, so you would ask 怎么办？


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