to pull; to drag; to play (a bowed instrument)
HSK level
拉 is written with 8 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
拉 (lā) is a verb whose core meaning is 'to pull' or 'to drag' — the direct opposite of 推 (tuī, 'to push').
You pull a door (拉门), pull someone by the hand (拉着手), or drag a suitcase (拉行李). From that physical base it fans out to several extended senses that surprise learners: 拉 means 'to play' a bowed string instrument (拉小提琴, play the violin — because you draw the bow across), 'to chat casually' (拉家常, 拉呱), 'to canvass or drum up' (拉票 solicit votes, 拉客 tout for customers), and colloquially 'to have loose bowels' (拉肚子).
Tone matters: 拉 is first tone lā for 'pull,' but 落 is a different character. The instrument sense is the one English speakers least expect — you don't 'pull' a violin in English, but in Chinese the drawing motion of the bow makes 拉 the natural verb.
Note: Neutral in its core 'pull' sense. The colloquial senses (拉肚子 'have diarrhea', 拉家常 'chat') are spoken-only.
请拉一下门。
Qǐng lā yíxià mén.
Please pull the door.
neutral
他会拉小提琴。
Tā huì lā xiǎotíqín.
He can play the violin.
neutral
我昨天吃坏了肚子，一直拉肚子。
Wǒ zuótiān chī huài le dùzi, yìzhí lā dùzi.
I ate something bad yesterday and have had diarrhea ever since.
spoken
妈妈拉着孩子的手过马路。
Māma lā zhe háizi de shǒu guò mǎlù.
The mother held the child's hand crossing the street.
neutral
拽 means to yank or pull hard, often abruptly. 拉 is the neutral, everyday 'pull'; 拽 adds force and roughness.
扯 means to tug or pull at (often cloth, or figuratively 'to chat / talk nonsense'). 拉 is smoother and more literal; 扯 implies a sharper tug or idle talk.
啦 is a sentence-final particle (a fusion of 了 and 啊). 拉 is the verb 'to pull.' They share the sound but 啦 has the 口 mouth radical and never means 'pull.'
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