to do; to make
HSK level
做 is written with 11 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
做 (zuò) is the general Chinese verb for 'to do / make' — used for activities, work, and creating things.
It covers a wide semantic range: 做作业 (do homework), 做饭 (cook, literally 'make food'), 做生意 (do business), 做朋友 (be friends, literally 'do friends'). The most common HSK 1 question using 做 is 你在做什么？ ('what are you doing?'). The trickiest thing for beginners is that 做 has a near-homophone 作 (also zuò, same tone), which overlaps heavily in meaning.
Modern Chinese has split the work roughly so that 做 handles concrete, physical actions (cook, make a cake, do a task) while 作 handles abstract or compound expressions (作业 homework, 工作 work, 作家 author). When in doubt for everyday speech, 做 is safer. 做 also serves as a copula in some patterns: 当老师 / 做老师 ('be / work as a teacher').
你在做什么？
Nǐ zài zuò shénme?
What are you doing?
spoken
妈妈在做饭。
Māma zài zuò fàn.
Mom is cooking.
spoken
我们做朋友吧。
Wǒmen zuò péngyou ba.
Let's be friends.
spoken
我做完作业了。
Wǒ zuò wán zuòyè le.
I've finished my homework.
neutral
作 is the formal / written twin of 做, same pronunciation and tone. Use 作 in fixed compounds (工作 work, 作业 homework, 作家 author, 作为 as). For physical, everyday actions in speech (做饭, 做事), use 做.
坐 (zuò, same tone, same pronunciation, similar look) means 'to sit.' 我做飞机 is wrong — you want 我坐飞机 ('I take the plane'). The two are the most common HSK 1 sound-alike confusion. Memorize: 坐 has 土 (earth) at the bottom = sitting down on the ground; 做 has 人 (person) on the left = a person doing something.
Same sound, overlapping meaning. 做 handles concrete physical actions; 作 handles abstract compounds. When unsure in speech, 做 is safer; in writing, look up which compound the phrase belongs to
Acquire it by listening
Fluentide turns real news into Chinese listening at your exact level, so words like 做 show up again and again in natural sentences — with pinyin and translation every time. No flashcards. Free to start.
