Chinese Lesson Blurb: Using 卻 to Spotlight Contradiction

Fun Learning Chinese

Politicians are masters of contradiction

Politicians have a way of making rules for everyone else and exempting themselves. So it is no wonder that the common use of 卻 ㄑㄩㄝˋ (què) to indicate contrast came up in writing my latest blog on taxes (coming soon).

The dictionary fails us in this regard, my tutor explains. Even though the listed definitions along the lines of still, but, yet, however, and to decline are sometimes applicable, the way 卻 is used the most is to point out a contradiction or contrast between two statements or actions.

I’m going to save my sentence about taxes for that blog post on taxes, but here are a four other sentences to show how 卻 is used. These should be easy to understand and will prepare you to more easily understand the sentence in the upcoming blog post.

他不喜歡工作，可是卻喜歡花錢。

(他)(不)(喜歡)(工作)，

(ㄊㄚ)(ㄅㄨˋ)(ㄒㄧˇ ㄏㄨㄢ)(ㄍㄨㄥ ㄗㄨㄛˋ),

(tā)(bù)(xǐ huān)(gōng zuò),

(he)(not)(to like)(to work)

…..(可是)(卻)(喜歡)(花)(錢)

……(ㄎㄜˇ ㄕˋ)(ㄑㄩㄝˋ)(ㄒㄧˇ ㄏㄨㄢ)(ㄏㄨㄚ)(ㄑㄧㄢˊ)

……(kě shì)(què)(xǐ huān)(huā)(qián)

……(but, however)(indicates contrast/contradiction)(to like)(to spend)(money)

He doesn’t like to work, but likes to spend money.

你自己想去，可是卻不讓我去！

(你)(自己)(想)(去)，

(ㄋㄧˇ)(ㄗˋ ㄐㄧˇ)(ㄒㄧㄤˇ)(ㄑㄩˋ),

(nǐ)(zì jǐ)(xiǎng)(qù),

(you)(yourself)(to think, to want)(to go),

…..(可是)(卻)(不)(讓)(我)(去)

……(ㄎㄜˇ ㄕˋ)(ㄑㄩㄝˋ)(ㄅㄨˊ)(ㄖㄤˋ)(ㄨㄛˋ)(ㄑㄩˋ)

……(kě shì)(què)(bú)(ràng)(wǒ)(qù)

……(but)(indicates contrast)(not)(to let)(me)(to go)

You are thinking of going yourself, but you don’t want to let me go!

他不想結婚，可是卻想談戀愛。

(他)(不)(想)(結婚)，

(ㄊㄚ)(ㄅㄨˋ)(ㄒㄧㄤˇ)(ㄐㄧㄝˊ ㄏㄨㄣ),

(tā)(bù)(xiǎng)(jié hūn),

(he)(not)(to think, to want)(to get married),

…..(可是)(卻)(想)(談戀愛)

……(ㄎㄜˇ ㄕˋ)(ㄑㄩㄝˋ)(ㄒㄧㄤˇ)(ㄊㄢˊ ㄌㄧㄢˋ ㄞˋ)

……(kě shì)(què)(xiǎng)(tán liàn ài)

……(but)(indicates contrast)(to think)(to court, to be dating, to go steady)

He doesn’t want to get married, but he wants to be in a loving relationship.

我喜歡狗，可是卻不喜歡牠們的毛掉滿地。

(我)(喜歡)(狗)，(可是)(卻)(不)(喜歡)

(ㄨㄛˇ)(ㄒㄧˇ ㄏㄨㄢ)(ㄍㄡˇ), (ㄎㄜˇ ㄕˋ)(ㄑㄩㄝˋ)(ㄅㄨˋ)(ㄒㄧˇ ㄏㄨㄢ)

(wǒ)(xǐ huān)(gǒu), (kě shì)(què)(bù)(xǐ huān)

(I)(to like)(dog), (but)(indicates contrast)(not)(to like)

…..(牠們的)(毛)(掉)(滿)(地)

……(ㄊㄚ ㄇㄣ˙ ㄉㄜ˙)(ㄇㄠˊ)(ㄉㄧㄠˋ)(ㄇㄢˇ)(ㄉㄧˋ)

……(tā men. de.)(máo)(diào)(mǎn)(dì)

……(their)(fur)(to fall, to lose, to shed)(to fill)(ground, earth, place)

I like dogs, but I don’t like their fur shedding all over the place.

Is any of this acceptable?

You can see that the gist of these sentences is to question whether or not this contrast is acceptable or makes sense. The character 卻 does not necessarily translate into a specific word, but suggests English phrases such as

• …yet you won’t….
• …but for some reason…
• …in spite of that…
• …but still thinks it is okay…

Another Chinese Lesson Blurb in the near future will have to do with a Chinese idiom that we ran across while discussing the last sentence here. It is rather violent, but it made me laugh! Stay tuned!