How to use “pèng”, “pèng jiàn” and “pèng shàng” in Chinese

This article will look at three related but distinct words in Chinese: 碰, 碰见 and 碰上.

本文将讲解中文里三个相关但又有所区别的词："碰"、"碰见"和"碰上"。

碰 (pèng)

碰 is the simplest of the three words. It simply means "to touch" or "to hit" (in a non-aggressive sense).

"碰"是三个词中最为简单的。它的意思只是"触摸"或"打"（非侵犯性）。

Have a look at some example sentences:

看看一些例句：

他们碰了碰杯子。

tāmen pèngle pèng bēizi.

They clinked their glasses together.

小心碰头。

xiǎoxīn pèngtóu.

Mind your head.

别碰我！

bié pèng wǒ!

Don't touch me!

她头一碰枕头就睡着了。

tā tóu yī pèng zhěntou jiù shuìzhaole.

She was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

碰 is quite a versatile word, and can be used to describe various kinds of contact between two things.

"碰"的用法很广，可以用于描述两者之间各种不同的接触。

碰见 (pèngjiàn)

Unlike 碰, 碰见 has quite a specific meaning. It means "to bump into", in the sense of unexpectedly meeting someone.

与"碰"不同，"碰见"有着很不一样的具体含义。它的意思是"无意中遇到"，有种意料之外遇见某人的意思。

This is just a metaphorical extension of 碰, and is very similar to "bump into" in English.

这是"碰"的一种隐喻拓展，和英语里的"bump into"非常接近。

Some examples:

一些例子：

我昨天碰见他了。

wǒ zuótiān pèngjiàn tāle.

I bumped into him yesterday.

你猜我今天碰见谁了!

nǐ cāi wǒ jīntiān pèngjiàn shéi le!

Guess who I ran into today!

我最近都没碰见你。

wǒ zuìjìn lǎo shì méi pèngjiàn nǐ.

I haven't bumped into you recently.

碰上 (pèngshàng)

Just as 碰见 is an extension of 碰, you could say that 碰上 is an extension of 碰见.

正如"碰见"是"碰"的拓展，你也可以说"碰上"是"碰见"的一种延伸。

Like 碰见, 碰上 can be used to talk about meeting someone unexpectedly:

与"碰见"一样，"碰上"可用于描述_意外见到某人的情况。

我以前经常碰上她。

wǒ yǐqián jīngcháng pèng shàng tā.

I used to bump into her all the time.

我碰上一位老朋友。

wǒ pèng shàngle yīgè lǎo péngyǒu.

I bumped into an old friend.

碰上 also has a further meaning, which is to encounter something other than a person. That sounds pretty weird, but it's actually just for situations like these:

"碰上"还有更深的含义，除了表示"碰上某人"外，还可以表示"碰上某事"。这听上去不可思议，但它的确适用于如下的情境：

看来我们要碰上一场暴风雨。

kàn lái wǒmen yào pèng shàng yī chǎng bàofēngyǔ.

Looks like we're in for a storm.

我们都会碰上些小麻烦。

wǒmen shéi dūhuì bùshí pèng shàng xiēxiǎo máfan.

We all encounter a few problems.

Translated from: chineseboost

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