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A2 · Grammar reference · ASGYC77J

Reduplication of verbs

One of the fun things about Chinese is that when speaking, you can repeat a verb to express "a little bit" or "briefly." This is called reduplication. It creates a casual tone, and a sense that whatever the action is, it's not going to take long.

Structure

Subj. + Verb + Verb

Verb + 一 + Verb

Keywords
Used for
Decreasing formality · Expressing duration
Classification
Verbs · HSK2 · HSK3

Examples (14)

你看看。

我试试。

说说你的想法。

出去玩玩吧!

我想出去走走。

别生气了,笑一笑!

你去问一问他们厕所在哪里。

我可以用一用你的电脑吗?

你现在有时间吗?我们聊一聊吧。

你想尝一尝我做的菜吗?

考虑考虑

讨论讨论

商量商量

打听打听

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Full explanation at AllSet Learning

Summary, structure, classification, and adapted sentence examples draw from the AllSet Learning Chinese Grammar Wiki under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0; changes were made. This noncommercial reference is based on an October 2023 snapshot.

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