to go to work; be at work
HSK level
上班 is written with 13 strokes (上: 3, 班: 10). The animation replays automatically.
上班 (shàngbān) means 'to go to work' or, in continuous contexts, 'to be at work.'
It is a verb-object compound: 上 ('to go up / start on') + 班 ('shift / class / work session'), literally 'mount the shift.' The 班 in 上班 refers to a work shift, not a school class — schools use 上课 (shàngkè, 'attend class') for the equivalent action. Because 班 is the object of 上, you cannot add another object directly: say 我在公司上班 ('I work at the company'), never 上班公司.
To talk about commuting, pair it with verbs of motion: 去上班 ('head to work'), 在路上 ('on the way'). The matching pair is 下班 (xiàbān, 'to get off work'). For talking about employment more generally — what you do for a living — use 工作 (gōngzuò), which functions as both noun and verb.
Character by character
Memory hook: 上 (start on) + 班 (shift) = clock in for your shift — go to work.
上班 appears in 2 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed — each with the full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
我每天八点上班。
Wǒ měi tiān bā diǎn shàngbān.
I start work at eight every day.
neutral
你妈妈在哪儿上班？
Nǐ māma zài nǎr shàngbān?
Where does your mom work?
spoken
今天我不去上班。
Jīntiān wǒ bú qù shàngbān.
I'm not going to work today.
spoken
他上班的时候不能玩手机。
Tā shàngbān de shíhou bù néng wán shǒujī.
He can't play with his phone while he's at work.
neutral
上课 ('attend class / start a lesson') is the school version of 上班. Same 上 + (session) pattern, different second character. Use 上班 for work, 上课 for school.
下班 is 'to get off work' — the matching pair. 上 = go up / start; 下 = go down / end. Don't mix them up.
加班 means 'to work overtime / extra shifts.' Same 班 family but means staying beyond regular hours, not the regular workday itself.
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