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Expressing 'to cry' with 哭 (kū)
Structure
大哭 + 起来 / Subject + 哭
Explanation
哭 (kū) means "to cry" or "to weep" and describes the act of shedding tears, usually from sadness, pain, or strong emotion. It often appears with intensifiers like 大哭 (to cry loudly) or with the directional complement 起来 to indicate the start of crying, as in 哭起来 (to burst into tears). It is one of the most basic and commonly used emotional verbs in Chinese.
Examples
她听到那首歌就忍不住哭了起来。
Tā tīngdào nà shǒu gē jiù rěnbuzhù kūle qǐlái.
She couldn't help but cry when she heard that song.
别哭了，事情没有你想的那么糟糕。
Bié kūle, shìqíng méiyǒu nǐ xiǎng de nàme zāogāo.
Don't cry; things aren't as bad as you think.
弟弟摔了一跤，大哭了好几分钟才停下来。
Dìdi shuāile yī jiāo, dà kūle hǎo jǐ fēnzhōng cái tíng xiàlái.
The younger brother fell down and cried for several minutes before stopping.