Using "gēn" "跟" to mean "with"

Using 跟 (gēn) to express "with" is so simple and helpful, after studying it briefly, it will always be with you! 跟 (gēn) is a very common word that will help complete many other sentence structures.

Structure

The preposition 跟 (gēn) is commonly used to express "with." Just remember that the "with" phrase comes before the verb.

Subj. + 跟 + Person + Verb + Obj.

The word 一起 (yīqǐ) is used a lot with 跟 (gēn), expressing the idea of "doing something together with somebody." It may seem kind of redundant, but it's totally normal in Chinese to use both.

Also, for most of the examples below, 跟 (gēn) is interchangeable with 和 (hé), which you may remember, also means "and," just like 跟 (gēn) does.

Subj. + 跟 + Person + 一起 + Verb + Obj.

Certain Chinese verbs use 跟 (gēn) a lot, so be on the lookout for them (examples below)!

Examples

Note: One of the most common beginner mistakes is to fail to use 跟 (gēn) with 见面 (jiànmiàn), "to meet." It might help to think of 见面 (jiànmiàn) as "to meet with (somebody)," the "with" cluing you into the fact that you need a 跟 (gēn) in there. The verbs 结婚 (jiéhūn), "to marry," and 聊天 (liáotiān), "to chat" are used with 跟 (gēn) in the exact same way.

Check out the examples below:

Later on you'll learn more about why this is the case, but for now just memorize the correct pattern.

Where 和 (hé) and 跟 (gēn) Differ

We mentioned earlier that 跟 (gēn) is essentially interchangeable with 和 (hé). There's at least one common usage where this is not the case, though:

The reason is that although 跟 (gēn) and 和 (hé) can both mean "and" or "with," the word 跟 (gēn) also has a sense of "to follow" embedded in it. There's a before/after aspect.

The following sentences are both correct, because they're simultaneous rather than before/after:

Because of this slight difference between 跟 (gēn) and 和 (hé), it's recommended to start out using 跟 (gēn) to mean "with."

See also

Sources and further reading

Books