弄明白

nòngmíngbai

verb

Meanings

1 to figure out
2 to get clear on something
3 to make sense of

Characters

Examples

我得弄明白这道题怎么做。

Wǒ děi nòngmíngbai zhè dào tí zěnme zuò.

I have to figure out how to do this problem.

他还没弄明白发生了什么事。

Tā hái méi nòngmíngbai fāshēngle shénme shì.

He still hasn't figured out what happened.

Tips

grammar

弄 + 明白 is a 'verb + resultative complement' structure: 'do something until clear.' Same template gives 弄清楚 (sort out), 搞明白 (figure out — slightly more colloquial), 听明白 (understand by hearing).

Stroke Order

弄 nòng

明 míng

白 bái