赶上

• Pinyin: gǎn shàng
• Hanzi breakdown: 赶 = 走 (walk) + 干 (phonetic); 上 = directional complement meaning 'to reach' or 'to encounter'

Meaning

To catch up with; to make it in time; to encounter; to experience. Can mean reaching something or coincidentally experiencing something.

Has two main uses: 1) Successfully catching or reaching (赶上火车 catch the train, 赶上潮流 keep up with trends), opposite of 赶不上. 2) Happening to encounter, often something unfortunate (赶上下雨 happened to encounter rain, 赶上堵车 got caught in traffic). Context determines which meaning applies.

Examples

1. 快跑几步，我们还能赶上最后一班地铁。 Run a few more steps and we can still catch the last subway.
2. 今天出门运气不好，赶上了百年难遇的大暴雨。 Bad luck going out today — got caught in a once-in-a-century rainstorm.
3. 中国改革开放这四十年，正好赶上了全球化的浪潮。 In these forty years of China's reform and opening up, we happened to ride the wave of globalization.

Usage Guide

Context: transportation, timing, coincidence

Tone: descriptive

Do Say

• 我们赶上了最后一班公交车。(We caught the last bus.)
• 正好赶上打折季。(We happened to catch the sale season.)

Don't Say

• 把'赶上'和'追上'完全等同 (赶上 can mean catching/reaching OR encountering; 追上 mainly means physically catching up to someone/something)

Origin & History

Resultative complement structure: 赶 (to chase, rush) + 上 (up, reaching). The directional complement indicates successfully achieving the result.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal