住

住 (zhù) means 'to live / reside / stay (somewhere)' — used for where your home is and for short-term lodging like hotels. Two HSK 1 patterns to lock in: (1) 住在 + place = 'live in / at' (我住在北京 = 'I live in Beijing'); (2) 住 + duration = 'stay for' (住三天 = 'stay three days'). Unlike English, Chinese distinguishes 'live' (residing somewhere) from 'live' (be alive); 住 only covers the residence sense. To say 'be alive,' Chinese uses 活 (huó). 住 also functions as a resultative complement meaning 'firmly / steadily,' fixing the result of another verb in place: 记住 ('memorize / remember firmly'), 站住 ('stand still / freeze'), 抓住 ('grab and hold'). Those compound uses come later (HSK 3+), but it's worth knowing that 住 carries a core sense of 'staying / holding in place.'

Memory hook: 亻 (person) + 主 (master/host) = a person being host of a place = lives there.