Traditional Chinese Coverbs and Prepositions

Traditional Chinese has a handful of small but mighty words that wear two hats: one day they’re a verb, the next they’re a preposition pointing you toward a location, a direction, or the person you’re with. Coverbs and prepositions like 在, 對, and 用 might look harmless, but they glue your sentences together and stop you sounding like a blunt tourist phrasebook.

This list hands you around 40 of the most common coverbs and prepositions you’ll meet in everyday Traditional Chinese-not dusty textbook relics, just the practical connectors that keep conversations flowing. Every entry comes with a clear meaning and a natural example sentence, so you can see exactly how the word behaves in real talk, not just a translation that leaves you guessing.

Little grammar gremlins, gather round: if you want to get comfy with the bits that sit before verbs and help Chinese sentences do their magic, SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM for the free printable Traditional Chinese coverbs and prepositions vocabulary list PDF and the free downloadable printable Traditional Chinese coverbs and prepositions flashcards.

Want more than one list? Browse our Traditional Chinese section for more Yak Yacker study pages, printable lists, and quiz-friendly review material.

Quick Quiz

Fancy a quick warm-up? The quiz below will test how many of these coverbs you already recognize-no grades, just a friendly nudge toward the ones that need a second glance.

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Word	Pinyin	Meaning
A
B
八	bā	eight
包	bāo	package of, parcel of/ to wrap, to contain
包子	bāozi	steamed pork bun
北	běi	north
半	bàn	half
吧	ba	question particle, implying probability / sentence suffix, indicating a request
啊	a	ah, an exclamation
報紙	bàozhǐ	newspaper, newsprint
安全	ānquán	safety / to be safe, secure
安靜	ānjìng	to be quiet, calm, peaceful
幫	bāng	to help, to assist
幫忙	bāngmáng	to help someone do something
愛	ài	to love / be apt to
把	bǎ	indicating pre-verbal object as thing dealt with by the action
抱	bào	to hug, to embrace, to hold or carry in one's arms
搬	bān	to move
本	běn	Individual measure word for books or magazines, etc.
本子	běnzi	book, notebook, edition
杯	bēi	A cup of
杯子	bēizi	cup
棒	bàng	good; fine; excellent, great!
棒球	bàngqiú	baseball
比	bǐ	to compare; compared to, than