to hand in; to hand over; to pay
HSK level
交 is written with 6 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
交 (jiāo) is a verb whose core sense is 'to hand over / turn in' — to pass something from your hands to another party.
From this it fans out into several everyday meanings: to submit or hand in (交作业 'hand in homework'), to pay (交房租 'pay rent', 交学费 'pay tuition'), and, with people, to make or form (交朋友 'make friends'). English needs three different verbs — submit, pay, make — where Chinese uses one 交. Two things trip up learners.
First, 交 for 'pay' is used for dues, fees, rent, and tuition (money owed to an institution), whereas buying things uses 付 (fù) or 花 (huā). Second, 交 also appears in the abstract sense 'to intersect / cross' (交叉 jiāochā), and it forms many compounds: 交流 (exchange), 交通 (traffic), 交换 (swap).
请把作业交给老师。
Qǐng bǎ zuòyè jiāo gěi lǎoshī.
Please hand your homework to the teacher.
neutral
我每个月一号交房租。
Wǒ měi gè yuè yī hào jiāo fángzū.
I pay rent on the first of every month.
spoken
他很容易交到新朋友。
Tā hěn róngyì jiāo dào xīn péngyou.
He makes new friends easily.
spoken
这件事就交给我吧。
Zhè jiàn shì jiù jiāo gěi wǒ ba.
Just leave this matter to me.
spoken
付 is 'to pay' for purchases and bills at the point of sale (付钱, 付款). 交 is 'to pay' dues and fees owed to an institution — rent, tuition, taxes. Pay a shopkeeper with 付; pay your landlord with 交.
递 is the physical 'pass / hand me' — 递给我盐 ('pass me the salt'). 交 carries the sense of turning something in officially or entrusting it, not just passing it across a table.
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