教

教 (jiāo) is the everyday verb for 'to teach.' It takes a flexible 'teach + person + subject' structure — 教我中文 ('teach me Chinese'), 教学生数学 ('teach students math') — that often packs both the learner and the topic into one tight sentence.

Three things help learners: first, the character has two readings — jiāo as the verb 'teach,' and jiào in noun compounds about education (教育 education, 教室 classroom, 教师 teacher); second, 教 covers both formal instruction and informal showing-how (他教我做饭, 'he taught me how to cook'); third, the related verb 学 (xué, 'to learn') is its mirror image — pair them in 教学 ('teaching and learning,' or 'instruction'). When the focus is the teacher's profession rather than the act of teaching, Chinese uses the noun 老师 (lǎoshī) or 教师 (jiàoshī).