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biàn

换 swaps the slot; 变 changes the thing itself

The picture The thing stays where it is but turns into something else — what was there is now a different thing.

Core verbs

Where the picture shows up in

  1. the weather turns into something else

    天气了,多穿点。

    tiānqì biàn le, duō chuān diǎn

    The weather's turned — dress warmer.

  2. a person becomes another person

    几年不见,他了很多。

    jǐ nián bú jiàn, tā biàn le hěn duō

    It's been a few years — you've changed a lot.

  3. become a different substance

    成了冰。

    shuǐ biàn chéng le bīng

    The water turned to ice.

  4. turn it into something else

    我们把仓库成了教室。

    wǒmen bǎ cāngkù biàn chéng le jiàoshì

    We turned the warehouse into a classroom.

    With 换 you'd remove the warehouse and put a classroom in its place; with 变 the warehouse itself became one.

  5. the plan becomes a different plan

    计划了,明天不去了。

    jìhuà biàn le, míngtiān bú qù le

    The plan changed — we're not going tomorrow.

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