赶上 meaning in English

gǎnshàng

to keep up with; to catch up with

HSK 6Traditional 趕上13 strokes

Meaning of 赶上

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

gǎnshàng

to keep up with
to catch up with
to overtake
to chance upon
in time for

How to use 赶上

赶上 is used for catching up with a person or a standard, for making it in time for a bus or event, and for happening to run into a situation. Example: 我们赶上了最后一班车。(Wǒmen gǎnshàng le zuìhòu yì bān chē.) We caught the last bus.

赶 (gǎn) means to rush or hurry, and 上 (shàng) means up or onto. Picture yourself rushing forward until you get up level with the person ahead, so you have caught up.

Common mistake: Learners often use 赶上 when they only mean to meet someone on purpose. 赶上 is about making it in time or chancing upon something. Also keep the third tone on 赶 (gǎn) and do not confuse it with 干 (gàn), to do.

赶上 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

我wǒ赶gǎn上shàng了le最zuì后hòu一yī班bān公gōng车chē。

I caught the last bus.

我wǒ必bì须xū赶gǎn上shàng头tóu班bān火huǒ车chē。

I must catch the first train.

你nǐ马mǎ上shàng出chū发fā，就jiù可kě以yǐ赶gǎn上shàng他tā们men了le。

Start right now, and you'll catch up with them.

我wǒ很hěn快kuài就jiù赶gǎn上shàng了le他tā们men。

I caught up with them soon.

我wǒ设shè法fǎ赶gǎn上shàng了le最zuì后hòu一yī班bān火huǒ车chē。

I managed to catch the last train.

Stroke order for each character

Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.

赶 gǎn · to overtake · 10 strokes

上 shàng · up · 3 strokes

Related words

Words that share a character with 赶上.

马上	mǎshàng	at once; right away
晚上	wǎnshang	evening; night
身上	shēnshang	on the body; at hand
早上	zǎoshang	early morning
上次	shàng cì	last time
路上	lùshang	on the road; on the way; en route
上班	shàngbān	to go to work; to be on duty
上车	shàng chē	to get on or into (a bus, train, car etc)
地上	dìshang	on the ground; on the floor
楼上	lóu shàng	upstairs; (Internet slang) previous poster in a forum thread
车上	chē shang
上学	shàngxué	to go to school; to attend school

Questions about 赶上

What does 赶上 mean?

赶上 (gǎnshàng) means "to keep up with; to catch up with".

How do you write 赶上?

赶上 is made of 2 characters: 赶 (10 strokes), 上 (3 strokes). That is 13 strokes in total.

Is 赶上 an HSK word?

Yes. 赶上 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.

How is 赶上 written in traditional Chinese?

In traditional characters, 赶上 is written 趕上.

How do I say I did not make it in time using 赶上?

Use the potential form 赶不上 (gǎn bu shàng) for cannot make it, or 没赶上 (méi gǎnshàng) for did not make it. For example, 我没赶上飞机 (Wǒ méi gǎnshàng fēijī) means I missed the plane.

Can 赶上 mean something happened by chance?

Yes. It can mean to happen upon a situation, often with timing. For example, 正好赶上下雨 (zhènghǎo gǎnshàng xià yǔ) means it just happened to rain when we got there.