吩咐

fēnfù

verb HSK 7 #5,615

Meanings

1 to instruct; to tell someone to do something
2 to give orders

Characters

to instruct (only used in 吩咐)

to instruct (only used in 吩咐)

Both characters have the mouth radical 口, emphasizing spoken instructions. Neither character is used independently.

Examples

妈妈吩咐我去买菜。

Māma fēnfù wǒ qù mǎicài.

Mom told me to go buy groceries.

老板吩咐的事你做了吗？

Lǎobǎn fēnfù de shì nǐ zuò le ma?

Have you done what the boss instructed?

有什么事尽管吩咐。

Yǒu shénme shì jǐnguǎn fēnfù.

Just tell me if there's anything you need done.

Tips

usage

吩咐 implies a hierarchical relationship — a parent to a child, a boss to an employee. Using it between equals would sound presumptuous. For casual requests between friends, use 让 or 叫 instead.

Stroke Order

吩 fēn

咐 fù