v., n.
to exercise; sports; movement
运动
Common Usage & Traps
- 做运动 — to do exercise
- 喜欢运动 — to like sports or working out
- 每天运动 — to exercise every day
- 运动对身体好 — exercise is good for your health
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打运动做运动 / 运动打 is a hitting verb. It grabs concrete games you can smack or bat around: 打篮球, 打网球, 打乒乓球. 运动 is the umbrella word for all sports and exercise, and you cannot hit an umbrella.
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玩运动做运动 / 运动玩 is for games and toys: 玩游戏, 玩手机, 玩牌. Exercise is work you do, not a toy you play with, so 玩运动 lands wrong.
Can you say 打运动 for 'play sports'?
No. 打 only sticks to concrete games you hit or bat, like 打篮球.
English 'play sports' tricks learners into grabbing 打, because 打 shows up in half the sports they already know. But 打 means hit, so it wants a physical target: 打篮球, 打网球, 打麻将. 运动 is the umbrella term covering all of it, so there is nothing to hit. Say 做运动, or let 运动 carry the action by itself: 我每天运动。
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Specific ball games | 打篮球、打网球、踢足球 | 打运动 |
| Exercise in general | 做运动 / 运动 | 玩运动 |
| Liking sports | 喜欢运动 | 喜欢玩运动 |
Do you need 做 in front of 运动, or can 运动 stand alone?
做 is optional. 运动 already carries the action by itself.
Think of the gap between 'I exercise' and 'I do exercise' in English: both work, one is wordier. 做运动 is that wordier version — not wrong, just extra. Street natives usually drop it: 我每天运动半小时。 After 喜欢, 运动 slides in as the thing you like, no helper verb needed. “因为我不喜欢运动，所以这两个我都不喜欢。” (Because I don't like sports, I don't like either of these.) ── [《你喜欢看老电影吗？》](/read/do-you-like-old-movies) “Ｂ：因为我不喜欢运动，所以这两个我都不喜欢。” (B: Because I don't like sports, I don't like either of these.) ── [《你喜欢看老电影吗？》](/read/do-you-like-old-movies#s9)
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Daily habit with a time | 我每天运动半小时 | 我每天运动身体 |
| Liking it as a thing | 我不喜欢运动 | 我不喜欢做运动的事情 |
| Feeling of 做运动 | fine, just wordier | required before 运动 |
Does 运动 always mean sports?
No. In history and science texts it means a movement or motion.
运动 wears several hats, and the words around it tell you which one is live. In a park or gym it is exercise. In a history piece it is a movement: 五四运动 is the May Fourth Movement, not a track meet. Science writing uses it for motion of objects, as in 物体的运动. Stop auto-translating it as 'sports' and read the neighbors first.
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Gym or park talk | 运动 = exercise, sports | assuming that is the only meaning |
| History class | 五四运动 (May Fourth Movement) | reading it as a sports event |
| Science class | 物体的运动 (motion of an object) | 物体在做运动 (an object working out) |
| How to tell | look at the surrounding words | guessing from 运动 alone |
Featured in Story Deep Dive
Follow how this word unfolds across the narrative arc of this graded story.
In this dialogue, two people chat while waiting outside a cinema. You'll hear common phrases for talking about hobbies, sports, and movie preferences.
- Scene #1
Ｂ：因为我不喜欢 运动 ，所以这两个我都不喜欢。
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