把 (bǎ): to hold; to grasp

Meanings

1 to hold; to grasp
2 object-marker preposition
3 classifier for handfuls, bundles, or things with handles

Characters

把

bǎ

hold; grasp; object-marker; classifier

Examples

HSK 1

请把书放在桌子上。

Qǐng bǎ shū fàng zài zhuōzi shàng.

Please put the book on the table.

HSK 2

他把作业做完了。

Tā bǎ zuòyè zuòwán le.

He finished his homework.

HSK 2

给我一把椅子。

Gěi wǒ yī bǎ yǐzi.

Give me a chair.

Tips

grammar

The 把 construction (把字句) moves the object before the verb to emphasise what happens TO it: Subject + 把 + object + verb + result. The verb must carry a complement, aspect, or other result element - never bare. Right: 我把书看完了 (I finished reading the book). Wrong: 我把书看. Only use this with verbs that affect or change the object - not with 有, 是, 在, 知道, or other stative verbs.

usage

As a classifier, 把 covers two patterns: things with a handle you can grip (一把刀 a knife, 一把伞 an umbrella, 一把椅子 a chair) and handfuls or bundles (一把米 a handful of rice, 一把花 a bunch of flowers).

memory

All three senses trace back to the hand-radical 扌: grasping (verb), the bundle your hand grasps (classifier), and the preposition that drags the object into your grasp before the verb acts. One image - a hand reaching to take hold - explains the whole entry.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (radical form of 手)

Left hand radical (side-form of 手) - anchors 把 as a hand action. Original sense: to grasp, to take hold of. From the grip came the noun handle and the classifier for tools you grasp (一把刀 a knife). Family: 打 (hit), 拉 (pull), 抓 (grab), 推 (push).

phonetic

巴 bā

snake; cling

Right 巴 supplies the sound (bā → bǎ, just a tone shift). 巴 originally pictured a coiled snake; its grip-and-cling imagery faintly reinforces the grasping meaning of 把. Same phonetic in 爸 (dad), 吧 (particle), 疤 (scar).