EDIT: oops, I just noticed you were asking about Chinese, not English. In Chinese, I would usually say 诺 (nuò) for the verb, although I could make it longer and say 承诺 (chéngnuò). 许 (xǔ) works too. For the noun, I would usually use 承诺 (chéngnuò). For "memorize," there really isn't a perfect Chinese translation. You CAN use 记忆 (Jìyì) or 记 住 (Jì zhù), but they usually mean "remember" instead of "memorize". 背诵 (Bèisòng) Is probably your best choice, but it means "recite in order to memorize". For "memories", I would usually use 回 忆 (huíyì) I'll let natives pronounce them; I don't want to teach you my horrible American Chinese accent. ******************************************************** Here's the answer for when I thought you were asking about English: First, the noun and verb versions of "promise" are identical: PRAH-miss. For the second, "I memorize memories"= "I MEM-uh-rize MEM-uh-reez" This is part of a common pattern. For words that end in (s,z), (f,v) or (th,the), we often (but not always, as you see with "promise") voice the verb and don't voice the noun I believe my beliefs. I live my live. I bathe (voiced "th") in a bath (voiceless "th") I breathe (voiced th) a breath (voiceless th) He asked me for advice (s), and I advised (z) him. I use ("yooz") this 5 ways. It has 5 uses ("yoosiz"). It is very useful ("yoosfull") If we're talking about differences between nouns and verbs, it is also useful to know that verbs are usually (not always) stressed at the end, and other words like nouns and adjectives are usually NOT stressed at the end. This leads to lots of pairs of words where the verb is stressed at the end and the noun or adj is stressed earlier. refund: I ruh-FUND REE-fundz. combat: in a KAHM-bat, you kum-BAT your enemy.