住
to live; to reside; to stay
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HSK level
- Pinyin
- zhù
- Part of speech
- verb
- Level
- HSK 1
- Strokes
- 7
- Register
- neutral
- In episodes
- 5
Stroke order for 住
住 is written with 7 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
What does 住 mean?
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.
Hear 住 in real episodes
住 appears in 5 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed, 4 of them below. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
西班牙很多人住在楼里。
Many people in Spain live in apartment buildings.
Why Public Kissing Is Everywhere in Spain: From Franco's Repression to the Streets of Madrid
他在秘鲁住过二十年。
He lived in Peru for twenty years.
Pope Leo XIV Visits Argentina, Meets 'Chainsaw President' Milei to Discuss the Poor and the Economy
他住在美国。
He lives in the United States.
Democrats Win Congress: Can They Lower the Cost of Living?
飞机掉在一个很多人住的地方。
The plane fell in a place where many people live.
Learjet 60 Crashes in Palm Beach County, Florida, Killing All Nine On Board
Example sentences
你住在哪儿？
Nǐ zhù zài nǎr?
Where do you live?
spoken
我住在上海。
Wǒ zhù zài Shànghǎi.
I live in Shanghai.
neutral
他住三天就走。
Tā zhù sān tiān jiù zǒu.
He'll stay three days and then leave.
neutral
我们住一家小酒店。
Wǒmen zhù yì jiā xiǎo jiǔdiàn.
We're staying at a small hotel.
spoken
Common phrases with 住
Synonyms
居住 is formal/written, used on forms, in legal contexts, or in news: 居住地 = 'place of residence.' Spoken Chinese always uses 住.
待 means 'to stay (somewhere) for a while' — emphasizes presence and time, not residence. 我在北京待了三天 = 'I stayed in Beijing for three days.' 住 implies sleeping/lodging there; 待 just means being there.
Don't confuse 住 with
在 means 'to be at / in (a location)' or marks present action. 住 specifically means 'to reside.' 我在北京 = 'I'm in Beijing (right now)'; 我住在北京 = 'I live in Beijing (permanently).'
活 means 'to be alive / to live (be living)' — biological aliveness. 住 means 'to reside (somewhere).' English 'I live in Beijing' uses 住; 'plants live in the desert' (are alive) uses 活.
注 (also zhù) means 'to pour / annotate / pay attention to' (注意 = 'pay attention'). Same pronunciation as 住, totally different character and meaning.
Frequently asked questions
Related words from the same episodes
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