# 你做什么工作 / 你作什么工作



## bwuw

大家好！
今天我碰到了一件课文，刚刚看到这个句子： 

”你作什么工作“  

这里我们可不可以用”作“？在这个上“做”是不是更合适的？

谢谢！

b


----------



## xiaolijie

> “做”是不是更合适的？


对，在这样的句子里，“做”是更常见的。


----------



## bwuw

谢谢你，xiaolijie!


----------



## YangMuye

“做”字比“作”字晚出现，取代了“作”的一部分用法。所以两个字基本上是混用的。

一般来说，名词、形容词、不带能宾语的动词，用“作”不用“做”。此外的动词，
1, 古代留下来的固定用法，用“作”不用“做”。这些词在字典里可以找得到。
2, 表示制造实际的物体，用“做”不用“作”。文艺作品用“作”不用“做”。
3, 具体的工作、行为、事情，用“做”不用“作”。
4, 比较抽象的行为多用“作”。通常都有点古典语法的感觉。比如“作恶”“作法”“作古”“作假”“作战”等等。

你的例子属于第3个，“工作”这种情况的，一般用“做”。

当然，所有情况全部写成“作”也不能说错，但主流还是区别使用的。


----------



## bubokribuck

在國語裡面，“做”跟“作”是同樣發音，所以很多人容易將這兩個字混淆。但在粵語系統裡面，“作／做”的發音是不一樣的，而什麼時候用哪個字也分得很清楚。在提到的例句中，正確的字該為“做”才對。​


----------



## kareno999

bubokribuck said:


> 在國語裡面，“做”跟“作”是同樣發音，所以很多人容易將這兩個字混淆。但在粵語系統裡面，“作／做”的發音是不一樣的，而什麼時候用哪個字也分得很清楚。在提到的例句中，正確的字該為“做”才對。


An expression that has confused quite a few kids: 做作业...


----------



## blankego

In early Mandarin and in almost all other major dialects, 作's tone is 「入聲」，whereas the word 做, which is a derivation of 作, has the tone 「去聲」，therefore，they're quite different, should never be used as interchangeable.


----------



## YangMuye

Actually 作 has two readings, one equals to 做.
They are interchangeable.


----------



## blankego

No, you got it wrong. 作 can be used as 做, not vice versa.


----------



## kareno999

blankego said:


> No, you got it wrong. 作 can be used as 做, not vice versa.


I think in most situations their usage is pretty much fixed in modern Chinese.
e.g. 
做事 not 作事 做爱 not 作爱

Here are some rules (not exhaustive and there might be exceptions):
1. 做 is a verb and 作 can be both a verb and a noun (or form a noun), e.g. 作业 not 做业 作品 not 做品 工作 not 工做
2. 作 is used in words passed down from classical Chinese, including four-character idioms. 为虎作伥 not 为虎做伥 作古 not 做古
3. When used alone as a verb, 做 is preferred (or required). 你在做什么？ (not 你在作什么 which can have a totally different meaning when 作 is pronounced with the first tone) 把这件事做好 (not 把这件事作好) 想做就做（not 想作就作. Again I would pronounce 作 as zuo1 in this case lol）
4. 作 sometimes focuses on the meaning of 创作 (e.g. 作诗 not 做诗), 假装（作假 not 做假) and 恶行 (作孽 not 做孽）while 做 simply means 'to do' or 'to make'： 做事 做梦 做饭 etc
5. 做作 not 作做 

Any addition?

In some cases, they are indeed interchangeable, but usually one form is preferred over another and people have made efforts to differentiate them. Their usage in the future may become more clear-cut.


----------



## yaanlpc

kareno999 said:


> An expression that has confused quite a few kids: 做作业...



that's very funny, I have never be aware that this would be a confusing phrase maybe just because I am a native chinese speaker, but I think that must be very hard for the others.


----------



## xiaolijie

yaanlpc said:


> I have never be aware that this would be a confusing phrase maybe just because I am a native chinese speaker, but I think that must be very hard for the others.


I don't think "做作业" is difficult for learners to learn at all, because most of them would have learned something like "use 做 as a verb, and 作 as part of a noun,...". The problem arises when they see something like ”你作什么工作?“ from native speakers. Again, most of learners would be taught how to use 得,地 and 的 and there would be no problem in seeing the difference between them. But when they see native speakers using 的 indiscriminately (as 的, and also in place of 得 & 地) and only then that the learners start to get confused!


----------



## YangMuye

xiaolijie said:


> Again, most of learners would be taught how to use 得,地 and 的 and there would be no problem in seeing the difference between them. But when they see native speakers using 的 indiscriminately (as 的, and also in place of 得 & 地) and only then that the learners start to get confused!


I guess some people might argue that Cantonese speakers can easily tell the difference among “的”“地”“得”, only Mandarins will confuse them. 
I expect they also distinguish “底”, e.g. “我底画” vs. “漂亮的画”.

Chinese textbooks tend to teach things which are correct according to the government's regulations, but are actually neither followed by native speakers, nor meaningful from the aspect of etymology.


----------



## bubokribuck

Now you see, this kind of situations only happen in speaking Mandarine. As YangMuye stated, Cantonese people will never get mixed up "做/作" and "的/得/地" because they sound nothing alike to each other. And I've noticed that a lot of Taiwanese (and some of the people from Mainland as well) don't use the character "地" anymore, they have totally replaced it with "的" even though it's grammatically incorrect.


----------



## xnebula

if u want chinese to understand u. all those are ok;
there is a word called "做作"....could not be written as “做做“ or “作作”..
and no "做业" but “作业”;

we from wu(吴),never get mixed up with "的/得/地". 韩寒 does not =,=
but i could not tell the real difference between "做/作".i pronounce it in different ways in wu,but when in madarine, the 做 changes to zuo, it is the same pronunciation  of 作 in wu.then i remember 作天作地........


----------



## Vivalderess

‘做’是动词，如：做什么？做事，而‘作’ 是名词，如：作业，工作

‘做什么工作？’ 才是正确的。


----------



## bubokribuck

Vivalderess said:


> ‘做’是动词，如：做什么？做事，而‘作’ 是名词，如：作业，工作
> 
> ‘做什么工作？’ 才是正确的。


Not necessarily. “作詩、作畫”裡的“作”同樣是動詞。​


----------

