当

當

dāng

verb HSK 6 #146

Meanings

Tā dāng le lǎoshī.

He became a teacher.

Dāng wǒ dào jiā de shíhòu, tā yǐjīng zǒu le.

When I got home, he had already left.

Nǐ xiǎng dāng shénme?

What do you want to be?

grammar

当 as 'when' is used at the beginning of a clause: 当...的时候 (when...). It's more formal than just using ...的时候.

mistakes

Don't confuse dāng (to serve as/when) with dàng (4th tone), which means 'to regard as' or 'to pawn.'

当 dāng