v.
to dance
跳舞
to dance
Literally 'jump dance' (跳 leap + 舞 dance). A separable verb meaning to dance; say 跳一个舞 (perform a dance).
Common Usage & Traps
- 跳舞 — to dance
- 喜欢跳舞 — to like dancing
- 唱歌跳舞 — singing and dancing
- 跳个舞 — to do a dance / dance a bit
- 她舞跳得很好 — she dances really well
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她跳舞得很好她舞跳得很好 / 她跳舞跳得很好得 hooks onto the single verb 跳, not onto the whole pair 跳舞.
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我跳舞了两个小时我跳了两个小时的舞了 and the time length go inside the pair, not tacked onto the end.
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我喜欢舞我喜欢跳舞舞 alone is a single dance piece; the hobby or activity is 跳舞.
Where do 了, 个, and time words go — inside 跳舞, or stuck on the end?
跳舞 is two pieces, so 了, 个, and time lengths slide into the middle.
跳舞 is really 跳 (do) plus 舞 (dance), glued into one word. You can pull them apart, and only small things fit in the gap. So 跳个舞, 跳了一支舞, and 跳了两个小时的舞 all sound fine. Anything you bolt onto the finished pair, like 跳舞两个小时, sounds like a robot reading a word list.
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Quick dance | 跳个舞吧 | 跳舞一个吧 |
| Danced for two hours | 我跳了两个小时的舞 | 我跳舞了两个小时 |
| Finished and left | 他跳完舞就走了 | 他跳舞完了就走了 |
| Not able to dance tonight | 我今晚跳不了舞 | 我今晚跳舞不了 |
Why does 她舞跳得很好 sound right, while 她跳舞得很好 sounds off?
得 glues onto 跳 alone, so 跳舞 has to get cut in half.
得 is a hook that only grabs a single verb, never a whole two-part phrase. So 跳 catches it and 舞 cannot sit in between. Natives either repeat the verb (她跳舞跳得很好) or shove 舞 to the front as the topic (她舞跳得很好). Both work, and both sound like a real person talking.
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Praising a dancer | 她舞跳得很好 | 她跳舞得很好 |
| Longer version | 她跳舞跳得很好 | 她舞得很好跳 |
| Asking about skill | 你舞跳得怎么样？ | 你跳舞得怎么样？ |
If someone loves dancing, why is it 我爱跳舞 and never 我爱舞?
舞 alone is 'a dance', not the activity — hobbies run on 跳舞.
舞 on its own means one dance piece, something you can count with 支 or 场. The activity, the hobby, the thing you do on a Saturday night, is 跳舞. So 一支舞 is a specific dance, but 我喜欢跳舞 is the pastime. When you list activities beside 唱歌, only 跳舞 fits.
“因为在那儿可以一边喝茶，一边看表演，看唱歌、跳舞什么的。” (Because there you can drink tea while watching performances like singing, dancing, and so on.)
“因为在那儿可以一边喝茶，一边看表演，看唱歌、跳舞什么的。” (Because there you can drink tea while watching performances like singing, dancing, and so on.)
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Hobby | 我喜欢跳舞 | 我喜欢舞 |
| Counting dances | 一支舞 / 这场舞 | 一个跳舞 |
| Show listing | 看唱歌、跳舞什么的 | 看唱歌、舞什么的 |
Featured in Story Deep Dive
Follow how this word unfolds across the narrative arc of this graded story.
Ever wondered where old Beijing's tea-drinking culture has gone? Follow a visitor discovering why locals now avoid famous tea houses—and practice expressing surprise and comparisons in Chinese along the way.
- Scene #1
因为在那儿可以一边喝茶，一边看表演，看唱歌、 跳舞 什么的。
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