用 — Names the instrument or means before the main verb: take up X, then do the action with it.

TSUMUGU · TBCL 2 (est.) · 語法

用 grammar point · tier 1 · instrumental 用 (with / by means of)

· yòng

Names the instrument or means before the main verb: take up X, then do the action with it.

字源 FORM what the parts do

用, a wooden bucket bound in a hoop — the old graph of 桶, borrowed whole for use. The tool comes first, the work it does comes after.

故事 STORY a scene to remember it by

A hand lifts the bucket from the well, then carries the water in.

字源記憶法

框 · Frame

[subj] 用 [instrument] [verb + obj]

觸 · Trigger

You want to name the tool you act with before saying what you do.

序 · The move

1name the actor

2用 + the instrumentis this the tool/means, not the thing acted on?

3the main verb + its objectdoes a real action follow, not 用 left stranded?

例 · Examples

1他會can / knows how to用use / by means of筷子chopsticks吃飯eat (a meal)。

He can eat with chopsticks.

界 · Boundary

把

用 takes up the means you act WITH (用筷子 = with chopsticks); 把 takes up the object you act ON (把飯 = the rice itself). The chopsticks are the tool, the rice is the target.

跟

用 marks a tool; 跟 marks a person you act alongside. 用他 would mean 'using him', 跟他 means 'with him'.

instrument after the verb: 他吃飯用筷子 → 他用筷子吃飯

verb dropped, 用 left stranded: 他用筷子 → 他用筷子吃飯

marking a companion with 用: 我用朋友去 → 我跟朋友去

English puts 'with chopsticks' after the verb ('eat with chopsticks'); the instrument in Chinese comes before the verb, so learners strand it at the end.