保管
bǎo guǎn HSK 6

English Meaning

📚 Example Sentences

请保管好你的贵重物品。
Qǐng bǎoguǎn hǎo nǐ de guìzhòng wùpǐn.
Please take good care of your valuables.
银行可以保管重要文件。
Yínháng kěyǐ bǎoguǎn zhòngyào wénjiàn.
Banks can safeguard important documents.
他负责保管公司钥匙。
Tā fùzé bǎoguǎn gōngsī yàoshi.
He is responsible for taking care of the company keys.
我保管钥匙。
Wǒ bǎoguǎn yàoshi.
I keep the keys.
她保管文件。
Tā bǎoguǎn wénjiàn.
She safeguards the documents.

💡 Memory Tip

Think of 保管 as '保' (protect) + '管' (manage)—when you manage to protect something, you guarantee its safety or outcome. For the 'guarantee' meaning, remember it as a spoken promise: 'I'll take care that it happens.'

📝 Usage Notes

When used to mean 'guarantee,' it is common in informal spoken Chinese to express confidence, often in promises or assurances. In written form, it can appear in both informal and semi-formal contexts, such as instructions or guarantees. The 'safekeeping' sense is more formal and typically used in contexts like storage or logistics.

📖 Grammar Points

Often used in structures like 'Subject + 保管 + Result,' e.g., '我保管你满意' (I guarantee you'll be satisfied). It can also be used with 好 as in 保管好 to mean 'keep something safe.'

🏯 Cultural Notes

In Chinese culture, using 保管 to make promises reflects a sense of personal responsibility and confidence, common in friendly or service-oriented interactions to build trust.

🔄 Similar Words

Compared to 保证 (bǎozhèng, 'to guarantee'), 保管 is more colloquial and emphatic in speech, often used in spoken promises. Unlike 保存 (bǎocún, 'to preserve'), which focuses on maintaining something over time, 保管 emphasizes responsibility for safety or assurance of an outcome.

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