照Vgrammar point · tier 1 · 照V — carry the action out the established way despite a changed circumstance
· zhào
照 fixed in front of a verb runs the action by its established way — as agreed, as scheduled, as before — even though the new circumstance would seem to change it.
字源 FORM what the parts do
照 is light thrown on a thing: 昭 on loan for the sound, the sun (日) inside it; fire (灬) beneath. Fixed onto the verb, it casts the same set line across the act — done the way it was already laid down.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
The room turns dark and the day's plan changes, and the lamp throws the doorway in the same set line it always cast.
字源記憶法
框 · Frame
[changed circumstance], (subj) (還是) 照 [verb]
觸 · Trigger
A new circumstance would seem to alter what you do, and you do it the established way anyway.
序 · The move
1Name the change that would seem to redirect the action — a late move-in, a holiday, a complaint.Is there a settled prior way this action runs (as agreed, as scheduled, as usual)? Without one, 照V has nothing to hold to.
2Fix 照 directly in front of the verb — 照付, 照做, 照辦, 照常 — no standard-noun between them.If a rule or plan is named as an object (按照規定), that is 按照, not 照V. 照V fuses straight to the verb.
3Run the verb unchanged, often with 還是 marking the change shrugged off.The verb is the same act as before, not a new act reshaped to the change. If the action is altered to fit, drop 照.
例 · Examples
1雖然他月底才搬進來，這個月的房租fángzū — rent還是háishì — all the same, anyway照付zhào fù — pay it the agreed way, in full。
Though he only moved in at month-end, this month's rent still gets paid the agreed way.
按照 names the standard out loud as an object (按照規定辦 — do it the way the rules say). 照V swallows the standard into the verb and runs it as the already-established way (照辦 — do it as laid down). Standard spoken vs standard assumed.
✗ 房租照付了很多 (照V runs the act unchanged, it takes no amount/degree of its own) → ✓ 房租還是照付
English reaches for 'still pay' or 'pay anyway' and pins the meaning on 'still / anyway'. Chinese loads it onto 照 fixed to the verb; 還是 is optional reinforcement, not the carrier.