УРОК 29

GRAMMAR COMMENTARY

29.1. The function word 則 zé (continued)

As we know, the word 則 zé is a subordinating conjunction separating the main clause from the relative clause.

Furthermore, 則 zé has another meaning, found already in inscriptions from the 10th to 8th centuries BCE.

This second meaning of 則 zé is that it indicates a certain logical turn in the thought being expressed or the result of a previous action that may seem unexpected to the interlocutor or reader. Used in this sense, the word 則 zé does not begin the sentence, as in the first case, but rather between the subject and the predicate:
...曰必尚俾處厥邑田厥田, 師則復令曰諾... yuē bì shàng bǐ chù jué yì tián jué tián, shī zé fù lìng yuē nuò "...said: 'Be sure to make [them] live in their own cities and cultivate their own fields.' And Shi again issued an order, saying: "So be it!"

The context of the inscription shows that Shi's consent was not the only possible outcome of the situation described, that it was not prepared by previous events.

宋人谓其人曰予助苗长矣, 其子趨而往視, 苗則槁矣 sòng rén wèi qí rén yuē yú zhù miáo zhăng yǐ, qí zǐ qū ér wăng shì, miáo zé gāo yǐ "A man from the Song state said to his relatives: "I helped the crops grow!" His son ran to look at them, but the crops had withered!"

Here, the result of the Song Dynasty man's efforts to speed up crop growth also turns out to be completely unexpected.

29.2. The Definitive Pronoun 各 gè

The pronoun 各 gè means "each of..." or "all." It is placed after the word to which it refers:
民各有心 mín gè yǒu xīn "Each of the people has their own character."

各 gè can also be used on its own:
各奏爾能 gè zòu ěr néng "Everyone did what they could."

29.3. Functional word 所 suǒ

We have already encountered the word 所 suǒ in its notional meaning of "place" or "residence." It is also used functionally, acting as a neutralizer of predicativity.

If 所 suǒ precedes a predicative, it objectifies it, forming a noun phrase with the predicative and its dependent words (if any), which can act as a subject, object, or attribute.

Compare:
民人瞻君 mín rén zhān jūn "The people look up to the ruler with respect."
民人所瞻 mín rén suǒ zhān "The one whom the people look up to with respect."

Hence:
唯此惠君民人所瞻 wéi cǐ huì jūn mín rén suǒ zhān "This merciful ruler is the one whom the people look up to with respect."

Thus, the word 所 suǒ is used with transitive predicatives. A noun phrase formed with 所 suǒ denotes the object of the action expressed by the predicative. Such a noun phrase can be used as an attribute of an object.

Compare: 予捋荼 yú lǚ tú "I broke the reeds"; 予所捋 yú suǒ lǚ "what I broke"; 予所捋荼 yú suǒ lǚ tú "the reeds that I broke."

In Text 1 of Lesson 29, the function word 所 suǒ is used twice in parallel phrases: 爾所思 ěr suǒ sī "what you're thinking about" and 我所之 wǒ suǒ zhī "the [place] where I'm going."

29.4. The phrase 不如 bù rú

The phrase 不如 bù rú "not to resemble," "not to be similar," is most often used to mean "to be inferior," "to be worse than":
虽有兄弟不如友生 suí yǒu xiōng dì bù rú yǒu shēng "Even though there are brothers, they are not comparable to friends."

If the predicative phrase 不如 bù rú has an object expressed by a predicative phrase, it can be translated as "than... better."

29.5. Interrogative Word 豈 qǐ

Along with the interrogative words 何 hé, 誰 shuí, and others, 豈 qǐ is also used in ancient Chinese, but it serves to express a rhetorical rather than a real question.

In English, 豈 qǐ can be translated as "really," "can it really be," etc.:
豈曰無衣, 七兮 qǐ yuē wú yī, qī xī "Can you really say that I myself am without clothes? I now have seven different outfits."*
豈不爾思 qǐ bù ěr sī "Are my thoughts with you in anguish?"**

* Shijing. P. 148.
** Ibid. P. 77.