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做 vs 干? Is there any difference? Whats the difference between the verbs 做 and 干? They both translate as 'to do', right?

你在做什么?

你在干什么?

These two sentences both mean 'What are you doing?' Can I use the them interchangeably? Are there any slight nuances between them?

May 3, 2019 6:58 AM
Comments · 2
1

These two sentences are interchangeable 99% of the time.


As for the nuance between 做 and 干,  做 implies doing something in a more sophisticated way or in a way that requires thinking, skills or cleverness and is slightly more polite. 干  implies doing something in a more direct, or more tedious, or more violent way.

After all, these are just nuances. Usually they are interchangeable.

There are cases in which 做 and 干 are not interchangeable depending on the object. One example is 做作业(doing homework, which requires thinking). We usually don't say 干作业. 

May 3, 2019
Interchangeably. For me, they mean the same thing.
May 3, 2019