Some Chinese verbs carry almost no meaning by themselves — they're light verbs, roughly "do / make / handle," and they borrow their meaning from the object or complement attached to them. English has the same phenomenon: "do the dishes," "make a call," "get it fixed" — the verbs do, make, get are nearly empty, and the noun does the work. In Chinese the core light verbs are 做 (zuò), 打 (dǎ), 弄 (nòng), 搞 (gǎo) and 干 (gàn). Because they're chameleons, you cannot learn them from a one-word gloss; you learn them as collocations — fixed verb + object pairings — and you learn which register each one belongs to, because some are neutral and some are distinctly colloquial. This page frames the whole subgroup; each verb gets its own detailed page.
The five light verbs at a glance
| Verb | Rough sense | Register | Typical collocations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 做 (zuò) | do / make | neutral | 做饭, 做作业, 做生意 |
| 打 (dǎ) | do / make (light uses) | neutral in set phrases | 打电话, 打车, 打篮球, 打水 |
| 弄 (nòng) | do / fiddle with / get | colloquial | 弄坏, 弄好, 弄丢, 弄清楚 |
| 搞 (gǎo) | do / manage / mess with | colloquial, sometimes negative | 搞卫生, 搞活动, 搞清楚 |
| 干 (gàn) | do / work | colloquial | 干活, 干什么, 干得好 |
做: the workhorse "do / make"
做 (zuò) is the most neutral and most frequent light verb, safe in any register. It pairs with concrete products (做饭 cook, 做菜 make a dish), tasks (做作业 do homework, 做家务 do chores), and activities (做生意 do business, 做运动 exercise).
妈妈在厨房做饭呢。
māma zài chúfáng zuò fàn ne
Mom's in the kitchen cooking. (informal) — 做饭 = cook; 做 + food-object.
我今晚得做作业，不能出去。
wǒ jīnwǎn děi zuò zuòyè, bù néng chūqù
I have to do homework tonight, I can't go out. (informal) — 做作业, the standard collocation for 'do homework'.
打: light uses beyond "hit"
The base meaning of 打 (dǎ) is "hit," but a huge slice of its everyday use is light — it pairs with nouns to form set phrases where "hit" has faded away entirely: 打电话 (make a call), 打车 (take a taxi), 打篮球 (play basketball), 打水 (fetch water), 打伞 (hold an umbrella). These are fixed; you can't swap in 做.
我等会儿给你打电话。
wǒ děng huìr gěi nǐ dǎ diànhuà
I'll call you in a bit. (informal) — 打电话, not *做电话; 给你 marks who's called.
下雨了，我们打车回去吧。
xià yǔ le, wǒmen dǎ chē huíqù ba
It's raining — let's grab a taxi home. (informal) — 打车 = take a cab.
周末我常跟朋友去打篮球。
zhōumò wǒ cháng gēn péngyou qù dǎ lánqiú
On weekends I often go play basketball with friends. (informal) — 打 for ball sports played with the hands.
弄, 搞, 干: colloquial and meaning-by-context
These three are the most "empty" of all — 弄, 搞 and 干 mean little more than "do something to / handle / get" and rely almost entirely on their complement. They're conversational; keep them out of formal writing. 弄 often takes a resultative complement (弄坏 break, 弄丢 lose, 弄好 fix/finish). 搞 leans toward organizing or messing with things (搞活动 hold an event, 搞卫生 do the cleaning), and can carry a faintly negative or slangy tone. 干 is blue-collar "do / work" and appears constantly in the question 干什么 ("doing what?").
我不小心把手机弄坏了。
wǒ bù xiǎoxīn bǎ shǒujī nòng huài le
I accidentally broke my phone. (informal) — 弄 + resultative 坏 = 'broke'; 弄 supplies the action, 坏 the result.
这个周末学校要搞一个活动。
zhège zhōumò xuéxiào yào gǎo yí ge huódòng
The school's holding an event this weekend. (informal) — 搞活动 = organize/run an event.
你在干什么呢？
nǐ zài gàn shénme ne?
What are you up to? (informal) — 干什么, the everyday 'doing what'; 做什么 is the more neutral variant.
他在一家工厂干活，挺辛苦的。
tā zài yì jiā gōngchǎng gàn huó, tǐng xīnkǔ de
He works at a factory — it's pretty tough. (informal) — 干活 = do manual work.
Common Mistakes
1. Choosing a "real" verb where a light collocation is fixed. Some pairings are set; you can't reason your way to a different verb.
❌ 我给你做电话。
Incorrect — 'make a call' is the fixed 打电话, not *做电话.
✅ 我给你打电话。
wǒ gěi nǐ dǎ diànhuà
I'll call you. — 打电话 is the set phrase.
2. Mixing up 打 and 做 collocations. 打 goes with ball sports and calls; 做 goes with cooking and tasks.
❌ 周末我们去做篮球。
Incorrect — ball sports take 打: 打篮球.
✅ 周末我们去打篮球。
zhōumò wǒmen qù dǎ lánqiú
Let's go play basketball this weekend. — 打篮球.
3. Using colloquial 搞 or 弄 in formal writing. In a report or essay, swap them for a precise verb.
❌ 公司下个月搞一个会议。
Too colloquial for writing — use 举行 / 召开 a meeting.
✅ 公司下个月举行一次会议。
gōngsī xià ge yuè jǔxíng yí cì huìyì
The company will hold a meeting next month. — 举行 is the neutral/formal verb.
4. Writing 做 as 作 for these light uses. For "do/make" actions the character is 做; 作 is reserved for more abstract or written compounds (作文, 工作).
❌ 妈妈在作饭。
Incorrect character — cooking is 做饭, with 做.
✅ 妈妈在做饭。
māma zài zuò fàn
Mom is cooking. — 做饭 uses 做.
Key Takeaways
- Light verbs — 做, 打, 弄, 搞, 干 — mean roughly "do/make/handle" and take their real meaning from the object or complement.
- Learn them as collocations, not glosses: 打电话, 做饭, 搞卫生, 弄坏, 干活.
- 做 is neutral and broad; 打 covers many fixed light phrases (calls, taxis, ball sports); 弄 / 搞 / 干 are colloquial — avoid them in formal writing.
- Set pairings can't be reasoned around: 打电话 (not 做电话), 打篮球 (not 做篮球).
- This overview feeds the dedicated pages on 打, 做/作, and 搞/弄.
Now practice Chinese
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Chinese→Related Topics
- 打 (dǎ): The Many-Sense Light VerbHSK 2 — 打 (dǎ) literally means 'hit', but it works as a light verb in dozens of set phrases where the object supplies the meaning: 打电话 'make a call', 打车 'take a taxi', 打篮球 'play basketball', 打工 'work a job'.
- 做 vs 作 (zuò): Do / MakeHSK 2 — 做 (zuò) is the everyday 'do / make / be' — 做饭, 做作业, 做生意, 做老师 — while its formal twin 作 (also zuò) lives locked inside set compounds like 作业, 工作, 作文, 作为.
- 搞 / 弄 (gǎo / nòng): Handle, Get, Mess WithHSK 4 — 搞 (gǎo) and 弄 (nòng) are colloquial catch-all verbs for 'do / handle / get / mess with' whose meaning comes almost entirely from the complement that follows: 弄坏了 'broke it', 搞清楚 'figure out', 搞定 'get it sorted'.