突破／破 + 数字
to pass, break (a round-number mark)
Structure
主语 突破／破 整数 （大关）
What it means
Marks a round-number milestone passed on the way up: takings, sales or visitor numbers passing a big mark.
How it is built
Subject + 突破 + round number (+ 大关): 票房突破了五十亿元 (takings passed five billion yuan). Headline form, 破 + clipped number: 破亿, 破百亿, 破万.
When to use it
突破 is news-like and often takes 大关 (突破一万点大关); 破 is the short form of headlines and speech. 超过 compares any two amounts; 打破 takes 纪录, not a number.
Watch out
✗ 打破了一千万。 ✓ 突破了一千万。 For a fall below a mark use 跌破, not 突破: 股价跌破十元 (the share price fell below ten yuan).
Examples
上映第八天，票房就突破了五十亿元。
On its eighth day the film’s takings passed five billion yuan.
它成为中国第一部票房破百亿的电影。
It became the first film in China to take more than ten billion yuan.
今年全市接待的游客有望突破一千万人次。
Tourist visits to the city are expected to pass ten million this year.
Learn this in Lesson 66 · HSK 6: 《哪吒2》与中国电影 (Ne Zha 2 and Chinese cinema)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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