赚钱
zhuàn qián
The English phrase "make money" is translated into Chinese as 赚钱 (zhuàn qián).
赚钱 is used both for general earning (like a salary) and specifically for business profit-making. Depending on your intent, there are other ways to express similar ideas: you might use 创造财富 to mean "creating wealth" or 赚大钱 to mean "making big money".
Meaning: make a profit (verb)
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase 赚钱 is composed of 赚 (zhuàn), meaning to earn or profit and 钱 (qián), meaning money.
Which one should you use?
赚大钱 is an informal phrase that literally means "make big money", while 捞钱 is an informal term used to mean "make money" with a connotation of grabbing money opportunistically. Additionally, 发财 is an informal phrase that literally means "get rich".
How does it change in a sentence?
To express that money has already been made, you can add the aspect particle 了 between the verb and the object, resulting in 赚了钱.
How do you pronounce it?
zhuàn qián
Did you know?
- The word 钱 originally referred to a specific type of ancient currency shaped like a spade, rather than a general concept of money.
- The phrase 发财 (fā cái) is often used as a festive greeting or a wish for prosperity during the Lunar New Year, rather than just a description of an action.
- To describe someone who is extremely good at 赚钱, Chinese speakers might use the idiom 点石成金, which means 'turning stone into gold'.
Examples in context
- 我很努力地赚钱I work hard to make money.
- 我每天都挣钱养家I earn money every day to support my family.
- 我们应该努力创造财富We should work hard to create wealth.
- 他在股市上赚了大钱He made a lot of money in the stock market.
- 我希望能早日发财I hope to get rich soon.
- 他想通过这个生意赚钱。Tā xiǎng tōngguò zhège shēngyì zhuànqián.He wants to make money through this business.
- 现在很难赚钱。Xiànzài hěn nán zhuànqián.It is very hard to make money now.
- 这份工作能让你赚钱吗？Zhè fèn gōngzuò néng ràng nǐ zhuànqián ma?Can this job make you money?
Example conversation
Two friends are discussing a new business idea over coffee.
- 志强 Zhiqiang你觉得这个项目能赚钱吗？Nǐ juéde zhège xiàngmù néng zhuànqián ma?Do you think this project can make money?
- 梓涵 Zihan我觉得很有潜力，可以赚钱。Wǒ juéde hěn yǒu qiánlì, kěyǐ zhuànqián.I think it has great potential and can make money.
- 志强 Zhiqiang那太好了，我也想试试。Nà tài hǎo le, wǒ yě xiǎng shìshì.That's great, I want to try it too.
- 梓涵 Zihan志强，我们一起努力吧！Zhìqiáng, wǒmen yìqǐ nǔlì ba!Zhiqiang, let's work hard together!
