踢足球
To play football in Chinese is 踢足球.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase 踢足球 is composed of 踢 (kick), 足 (foot) and 球 (ball).
Which one should you use?
While football uses the verb 踢 (kick), basketball uses the verb 打 (hit/strike) because it is played with the hands.
How does it change in a sentence?
The phrase functions as a verb-object construction where 踢 is the verb and 足球 is the object.
Did you know?
- The term 踢 can also be used metaphorically to mean 'to discard' or 'to reject' something, much like 'kicking something to the curb' in English.
- The character 足 in 足球 is a formal way to say 'foot', whereas in daily spoken conversation, people often use the more colloquial 脚.
- In many Chinese-speaking regions, the term for football can change depending on whether you are referring to 'soccer' or 'American football', though 足球 is the standard for the former.
Examples in context
- 你明天会踢足球。You are going to play football tomorrow.Tatoeba #8696329 by crescat, translation #6168884 by carlosalberto
- 我们去踢足球吧！Let's play football!Tatoeba #11231395 by klzlueylx, translation #852599 by ignacy130
- 我踢足球。I play football.Tatoeba #9953360 by GlossaMatik, translation #2175511 by frog1011
- 这个周末我们来踢足球吧！Let's play football this weekend!
- 您经常打橄榄球吗？Do you play football regularly?
- 3 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Two friends are talking about their weekend plans.
- 俊杰 Junjie你下午想去踢足球吗？Nǐ xiàwǔ xiǎng qù tī zúqiú ma?Do you want to play football this afternoon?
- 雨婷 Yuting好啊，我也想去踢足球。Hǎo a, wǒ yě xiǎng qù tī zúqiú.Sure, I want to play football too.
- 俊杰 Junjie那我们在公园见吧。Nà wǒmen zài gōngyuán jiàn ba.Then let's meet at the park.
- 雨婷 Yuting没问题，下午见！Méi wèntí, xiàwǔ jiàn!No problem, see you this afternoon!
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
