Basic verb "to read"

[KiraKira]

Im trying to build up a basic vocab list from my dictionary but am having trouble figuring out some basic verbs, and really don't want to memorize them incorrectly.

What is the basic verb for "to read" ?

My dictionary lists 2-3 verbs and a few compounds.

看 which I thought 'to watch/see' (physically) ..

读 which was the first entry under "read"

or 念

The problem is that:

1) the dic says you can replace 读 with 看, but doesn't say what that changes about the meaning of the sentence.

2) They can be used to mean study (at school)

Kind of confusing for me. I just want to know which to use in the most basic of sentences; "I read (a) book" "I read (the) sign" "I read hanzi" etc .. I think 读书 is specific to mean "read book" maybe, any clarification is welcome

[Ding Yiyi]

I've always used "我看这本书" to mean "I'm reading this book," "我读这本书" means "I'm studying this book." "我念这本书" means "I'm reading this book aloud."

I hope this helps.

[L-F-J]

to me it kind of has to do with study. reading casually is more like 看书 while 读书 is studying or reading with the intention of learning rather than enjoyment.

also, to ask how to pronounce a character you ask 怎么读这个字 not 看. so its more of an indepth reading.

念 is "reading aloud". it is also used in the phrase 念经 "nian jing" which is "chanting" done by monks. jing here means sutra. "reading sutras aloud". this has more of the meaning "to recite" than to read in this case. a teacher might say:

跟我念这个句子。-read this sentence after me. (but its more like reciting again- reading aloud)

so to answer your question, 看 would be the one to use in reading casually. like a sign or something. even a book for fun. take for example:

我在看书。i'm reading a book.

我是正在读书的研究学生。i am a studying grad. student.

(正在读书- in the process of reading books= currently studying)

[muirm]

I thought I'd confuse the situation a bit more by adding that 念书 can also mean to study in a general sense (e.g. 他去美国念书）. Similarly, 念 can replace 读 when asking how to pronounce a character (e.g. 怎么念这个字？ or 这个字念什么？).

[nipponman]

Similarly, 念 can replace 读 when asking how to pronounce a character (e.g. 怎么念这个字？ or 这个字念什么？).

Nian4 here means to "read aloud", I don't believe 读 has this particular meaning.

[L-F-J]

whether you "read aloud" or "read in silence" there is still pronunciation involved when reading a character. so either would be suitable. the way you pronounce words in silent reading should be the same as in reading aloud.

[skylee]

Quote:

Similarly' date=' 念 can replace 读 when asking how to pronounce a character (e.g. 怎么念这个字？ or 这个字念什么？).

Nian4 here means to "read aloud", I don't believe 读 has this particular meaning.[/quote']

讀 can also mean to pronounce, to read aloud.

[Gulao]

To throw more confusion into the mix, I've heard from one or two sources that 念 can refer to just normal reading without it being "aloud" at all.

I tend to just go with the following, though.

看: Literally to look at. To read for pleasure.

读: To study. To read for the purpose of education.

念: To read aloud. To recite.

Whether or not there are odd tags on the meaning, they tend to overlap otherwise, so memorizing that meaning is unnecessary to me.

[nipponman]

讀 can also mean to pronounce, to read aloud.

I stand corrected, it must be my Japanese coming through.

[djwebb2004]

You have missed out from the list 阅读 as in "我的阅读能力还是很差"

[Gulao]

You have missed out from the list 阅读

I've always just considered this to be a more formal, nuanced word for 读. Sort of like how peruse is a more formal, nuanced word for browse.

[muirm]

People are often surprised when I tell them that, contrary to its common usage, 'peruse' actually means to look at carefully/thoroughly

[Koneko]

You may also consider,

朗读

诵读

阅悉

K.

[djwebb2004]

You may also consider,

朗读

诵读

阅悉

Exactly! Yuedu does not mean "peruse". If you say "wode yuedu nengli hen cha", it would be quite incorrect to translate this as "my perusing ability".

As for "yuedu is formal word".... who said it wasn't?? Does the poster even know what a non-sequitur is?

[Ge-lin]

Hi, first post...

One more point to address: 看書 also can mean study, too...