叫 (jiào) shows up on day one — 你叫什么名字？ — and then keeps reappearing in wildly different jobs: naming, summoning, ordering food, telling someone to do something, and plain shouting. The thread running through them is a voice reaching out toward someone or something: you call a name, call a taxi, call on someone to act, call out in pain. Once you see 叫 as "send your voice / will toward X," the senses stop feeling random.
Sense 1: be named / be called
叫 links a person or thing to its name: 我叫… "my name is…," 这个叫什么 "what's this called." It's the everyday, human way to give a name — far more natural than a translated 我的名字是….
你好，我叫李娜。
nǐ hǎo, wǒ jiào Lǐ Nà
Hi, I'm Li Na.
这种花叫什么名字？
zhè zhǒng huā jiào shénme míngzi
What's this kind of flower called?
他家的狗叫豆豆。
tā jiā de gǒu jiào Dòudou
Their dog is called Doudou.
Sense 2: call / summon / order
叫 summons a person, hails a vehicle, or orders food and drink — anything you get by calling for it.
快叫医生！
kuài jiào yīshēng
Quick, call a doctor!
今天太累了，我们叫外卖吧。
jīntiān tài lèi le, wǒmen jiào wàimài ba
I'm beat today — let's just order in.
你去门口叫辆车。
nǐ qù ménkǒu jiào liàng chē
Go hail a cab at the entrance. — 叫车 = call/hail a taxi.
Sense 3: pivotal — tell / make someone do something
This is 叫's big grammatical role: the pivotal construction (兼语句). 叫 + person + verb chains two clauses so that the object of 叫 is simultaneously the subject of the next verb — 妈妈叫我 (mum calls on me) 回家 (I go home). It works just like 让 (ràng) and carries a mild directive force: someone tells / gets you to do it. Crucially, there is no "to" — Chinese just butts the second verb straight on.
妈妈叫我早点回家。
māma jiào wǒ zǎodiǎn huí jiā
Mum tells me to come home early. — 我 is object of 叫 and subject of 回家.
医生叫他多休息。
yīshēng jiào tā duō xiūxi
The doctor told him to rest more.
老师叫我们把作业交上去。
lǎoshī jiào wǒmen bǎ zuòyè jiāo shàngqù
The teacher had us hand in the homework. — pivotal 叫 chaining into a 把 clause.
Sense 4: shout / cry out
With no person to summon, 叫 is simply "shout, yell, cry out" — 大叫 "yell," 叫了一声 "let out a shout."
别在楼道里大叫。
bié zài lóudào lǐ dà jiào
Don't shout in the hallway.
他疼得大叫了一声。
tā téng de dà jiào le yì shēng
He let out a yell from the pain.
Sense 5: colloquial passive — 叫 as an agent marker
In casual speech 叫 (like 让) can introduce the doer of something that happened to you, working much like 被 — but 叫/让 normally require the agent to be named.
我的自行车叫人骑走了。
wǒ de zìxíngchē jiào rén qí zǒu le
Someone rode off with my bike. — 叫人 = got …by someone.
Key collocations
| Phrase | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 叫什么名字 | jiào shénme míngzi | what's (your/its) name |
| 叫车 | jiào chē | hail / order a taxi |
| 叫外卖 | jiào wàimài | order takeout / delivery |
| 叫菜 | jiào cài | order dishes (at a restaurant) |
| 叫他做… | jiào tā zuò … | tell / get him to do … (pivotal) |
| 大叫 | dà jiào | shout, yell |
| 叫醒 | jiàoxǐng | wake sb up (call awake) |
Grammar notes
The pivotal use of 叫 is the pattern to study — the pivotal construction page shows how the shared noun bridges two verbs, and 叫 sits alongside 让 and 使 among the causatives 让/叫/使. For the passive sense, note that 叫/让 differ from 被: 被 can drop its agent (被偷了 "got stolen"), but 叫/让 generally cannot — you need 叫人偷了. This is covered under 被/让/叫/给 passives.
Watch out for near-synonyms
For naming, use 叫, not 是 (shì): 我叫王明 is how you introduce yourself, while 我是王明 states identity ("I am Wang Ming") and sounds more like confirming who you are. For the causative sense, 叫 overlaps heavily with 让 (ràng) — see that page for the "let / make / have" nuances. For pure shouting, 喊 (hǎn) is a close cousin; 喊 emphasizes loudness and calling out to someone at a distance.
Common Mistakes
1. Using 我的名字是… to give your name. Grammatical, but stiff translationese — natives say 叫.
❌ 我的名字是王明。
Unnatural — for introducing yourself, use 叫: 我叫王明.
✅ 我叫王明。
wǒ jiào Wáng Míng
I'm Wang Ming.
2. Dropping the person in a pivotal 叫. 叫 needs the pivot — someone to be told.
❌ 妈妈叫早点回家。
Missing the pivot — who's being told? Add 我: 妈妈叫我早点回家.
✅ 妈妈叫我早点回家。
māma jiào wǒ zǎodiǎn huí jiā
Mum tells me to come home early.
3. Using 喊 to hail a taxi. 喊 is shouting; hailing/ordering is 叫.
❌ 我们喊一辆出租车吧。
Wrong verb — you 叫 (call) a taxi, you don't 喊 (shout at) one.
✅ 我们叫一辆出租车吧。
wǒmen jiào yí liàng chūzūchē ba
Let's hail a taxi.
4. A 叫 passive with no agent. Unlike 被, the doer after 叫 can't be left out.
❌ 我的钱包叫偷了。
Incomplete — 叫 needs a named agent. Say 叫人偷了, or use 被: 被偷了.
✅ 我的钱包叫人偷了。
wǒ de qiánbāo jiào rén tōu le
My wallet got stolen (by someone).
Key Takeaways
- 叫 = be named (我叫王明) — the natural introduction, not 我的名字是….
- 叫 = call / summon / order: 叫医生, 叫车, 叫外卖, 叫菜.
- Pivotal 叫 = tell / get someone to do (叫我回家), just like 让 — and there's no "to" before the second verb.
- 叫 also means shout (大叫) and marks a colloquial passive — but the agent can't be dropped (叫人偷了).
- For names use 叫 (not 是); for "let/make" compare 让; for shouting compare 喊.
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- 让 (ràng) — let / make / yieldHSK 2 — 让 (ràng) is the everyday causative: 让 + person + verb means 'let / make / have someone do' (让我看看, 老师让我们写作文). It also means 'yield / give way' (让路, 让座) and marks a colloquial passive (让雨淋了 = 被淋了).
- 是 (shì) — to be (copula)HSK 1 — 是 (shì) is the copula that links two nouns — 我是学生 (I am a student). Its one job is X = Y. It does NOT go before adjectives (她很高, not *她是高) and it does NOT mark location (书在桌子上, not *书是桌子上) — those are 很 + adjective and 在.