买
to buy
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HSK level
- Pinyin
- mǎi
- Part of speech
- verb
- Level
- HSK 1
- Strokes
- 6
- Register
- neutral
- In episodes
- 3
Stroke order for 买
买 is written with 6 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
What does 买 mean?
买 (mǎi) is the Chinese verb 'to buy / purchase' — used the same way as English 'buy.'
The most important thing for beginners to memorize is the contrast with its near-twin 卖 (mài, 'to sell'): same pronunciation root, only the tone differs (third tone vs fourth tone) and the bottom half of the character differs slightly. Mixing them up reverses your sentence entirely. 买 takes a direct object: 买东西 (buy things), 买一杯咖啡 (buy a coffee).
To say what you bought something for, use 给 (gěi, 'for'): 我给妈妈买了礼物 ('I bought Mom a present'). Common compounds: 买东西 (go shopping, literally 'buy things'), 买单 (mǎidān, pay the bill at a restaurant — a Cantonese loan that's now standard nationwide), 购买 (gòumǎi, formal 'to purchase,' used in writing and contracts).
Memory hook: 买 (mǎi, third tone, falls then rises) — money goes DOWN out of your pocket. 卖 (mài, fourth tone, falls sharply) — your goods go OUT for cash.
Hear 买 in real episodes
买 appears in 3 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed. 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.
美国给以色列买武器的钱，要停了。
The money the US gives Israel to buy weapons is going to stop.
Trump Moves to Cut Israel Military Aid as Republicans Blame Israel for Midterm Defeat
美国公司和美国政府都买它的软件。
Both U.S. companies and the U.S. government buy its software.
Palantir Profit Soars as U.S. Commercial Revenue Overtakes Government Business for the First Time
你在超市里买吃的，买喝的。
You buy food and drinks in a supermarket.
Lidl Opens Its First Pub in Northern Ireland After Six-Year Licensing Battle Over Alcohol LawsBeginner
Example sentences
我想买一杯咖啡。
Wǒ xiǎng mǎi yì bēi kāfēi.
I'd like to buy a cup of coffee.
spoken
他去买东西了。
Tā qù mǎi dōngxi le.
He went shopping.
neutral
这本书我买了。
Zhè běn shū wǒ mǎi le.
I bought this book.
neutral
你想买什么？
Nǐ xiǎng mǎi shénme?
What do you want to buy?
spoken
Common phrases with 买
Synonyms
购买 is formal 'to purchase' — used in writing, contracts, e-commerce sites, and news. In speech, always 买. Don't say 我去购买东西 — sounds like a robot.
买下 means 'to buy up / acquire' — usually for big-ticket items (a house, a company) or to emphasize completion. 买 is the everyday verb.
Don't confuse 买 with
买 (mǎi, 3rd tone) = buy. 卖 (mài, 4th tone) = sell. The characters differ only in the top stroke (卖 has 十 on top). This is the single most common HSK 1 mix-up. Memorize them as a pair.
美 ('beautiful') looks somewhat similar at a glance but means something completely different. Just be careful when reading handwritten characters.
Frequently asked questions
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
Meet 买 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
You just saw 买 in 3 episodes. Fluentide keeps feeding you news episodes at your level, so this word — and thousands like it — resurface in real sentences until they stick. Full pinyin and translation every time. Free to start.