Let's start with the most common word for a camera. In everyday conversation, you'll almost always hear this term.

There's also a slightly more formal, full version of the word. You might see this in written contexts or product descriptions. It’s good to know, but people usually just say xiàngjī.

Think of it like "photograph machine." The first character, 照 (zhào), relates to reflecting light or taking a picture. The full word is more descriptive, but the shorter one is more convenient.

Just like in English, Mandarin has specific words for different kinds of cameras. They are often formed by adding a descriptive word in front of 相机 (xiàngjī).

The word 数码 (shùmǎ) means "digital." So, a 数码相机 is literally a "digital camera."

For older cameras, you use the word for film.

Here, 胶卷 (jiāojuǎn) means "film roll." So, it's a "film roll camera." When you want to talk about a device that records video, there's a different term.

Notice this one ends in 机 (jī), meaning "machine," but doesn't use 相 (xiàng). It's built from the word for photography, which we'll see next.

Now let's learn the words for the action of taking a photo and the art of photography itself. First, the action.

This is a verb. 拍 (pāi) means to pat or to shoot (a film or photo), and 照 (zhào) is the same character we saw in 照相机. So you can say "我喜欢拍照" (Wǒ xǐhuān pāizhào), which means "I like to take pictures."

The general art or practice of photography has its own word.

For example, a professional photographer's job is 摄影 (shèyǐng), but when they press the shutter button, they are doing the action of 拍照 (pāizhào).

Ready to test your knowledge?

With these words, you can now talk about cameras and the basics of taking pictures in Mandarin.