打听
Meaning
- to ask about
- to make some inquiries
- to ask around
Example sentence
我打听他是谁。
I asked who he was.
Characters in 打听
- 打 dǎ a semantically light, transitive verb that is combined with various grammatical objects to form compound verbs and verb-object phrases with a diverse range of meanings (e.g. 打伞 "to hold an umbrella", 打电话 "to make a phone call", 打针 "to get an injection", 打手套 "to knit gloves", 打气 "to inflate")
- 听 tīng to listen to; to hear
打 to strike plus 听, to listen. 打 does its usual work of making a verb disyllabic — the meaning is to ask around.