No. 104 in Chinese
当
"当" means "to be", "act as", "appropriate", or "at that time," depending on context.
In a sentence
他小时候想当医生。
He wanted to become a doctor when he was a child.
In '当医生', '当' means 'to become', indicating a desire to assume the role or position of a doctor.
当老师讲课的时候,我们要认真听。
When the teacher is giving a lecture, we should listen carefully.
In '当老师讲课的时候', '当' denotes 'when', marking a certain time frame related to the teacher lecturing.
他被选为当场的主持人。
He was chosen as the on-site host.
In '当场的主持人', '当场' uses '当' as part of an idiom meaning 'on the spot', describing a location contextually.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “当” in actual Chinese podcasts.
Find “当” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays Chinese podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Learning English?
LangTurbo plays real English podcasts with every line translated into 中文, and tells you what any word means in that sentence. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Chinese books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).