n.
university; college
大学
Common Usage & Traps
- 上大学 — to attend university (as a student)
- 大学生 — college student
- 大学老师 — university teacher, professor
- 在大学 — at the university (as a location)
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我弟弟去大学了 (meaning: he is enrolled)我弟弟上大学了去 marks physical movement only. For being a student somewhere, Chinese always uses 上: 上小学, 上中学, 上大学. 去大学了 sounds like he got on a bus and went to a campus.
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大学学生大学生大学生 is a fixed word, just like 小学生 and 中学生. 大学学生 makes native speakers hear two separate nouns stacked up, and it sounds stiff and redundant.
Why do you say 上大学 for being enrolled, but 去大学上课 for showing up on campus?
去 means you physically go there; 上大学 means you are enrolled.
去 only marks moving to a place. 上 is the verb for being a student at a school: 上小学, 上中学, 上大学. So 我弟弟上大学 means he is enrolled at a university. 去大学 just means he physically went to the campus, and it sounds incomplete on its own. But 去大学上课 is fine, because there 去 is doing its normal job of movement.
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Enrolled as a student | 我妹妹上大学了 | 我妹妹去大学了 |
| Heading to campus for one class | 他要去大学上课 | 他要去上大学上课 |
| Teaching or working there | 他在大学教书 | 他上大学教书 |
Why is a college student 大学生, while a college teacher is simply 大学老师?
大学生 is one fixed word, so 大学学生 sounds like two nouns awkwardly stacked.
Chinese treats 大学生 as a single unit, the same way it treats 小学生 and 中学生. 大学老师 works differently, because 老师 freely attaches to any school name. So splitting 大学生 into 大学学生 makes native speakers hear two separate nouns. It is not a grammar crime, but nobody says it.
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| College student | 大学生 | 大学学生 |
| High schooler | 中学生 | 中学学生 |
| Elementary pupil | 小学生 | 小学学生 |
Appears in Stories 5 stories
Real context sentences across different daily scenarios and graded readings.
A young man helps an old man look for his cat. But the real surprise is why the old man wanted to find the cat. Read on to learn about kindness and friendship.
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白天明住在中国的一个 大学 里。
Follow a day from waking at six-thirty to coming home at eight, then leap across days, months, and years. This simple story helps you practice speaking about routines and life changes with clear time words.
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前年我去上 大学 。
Read this short story about people waiting in the rain for a new phone. You will practice numbers, time, and everyday vocabulary.
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晚上，我坐出租车去 大学 那边的苹果商店买手机。
This playful reading contrasts small universities and big primary schools. You will practice basic words for school levels and sizes while enjoying a simple rhythmic verse.
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十八上 大学 。
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大学 大学生，中学中学生，小学小学生。
This heartwarming story shows how a small act of kindness can be passed on. Follow Gao Xianming as he learns an important lesson about generosity in his new city.
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他要去 大学 上课。
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