УРОК 47

GRAMMAR COMMENTARY

47.1. Ways to Express the Passive Voice

One way to express the passive voice, beginning in the early classical period, was to use the preposition 於 yú (33.1). Along with this, another method is widespread in the classical language: sob - construction 為...所 wéi... suǒ:
世子申生為麗姬所譖 shì zǐ shēn shēng wéi lì j ī suǒ zèn “The heir to the throne Shen-sheng was slandered by Li-ji.”
吾悔不用蒯通之計,乃為子女所詐 wú huǐ bù yòng kuǎi tōng zhī jì, nǎi wéi zǐ nǚ suǒ zhà "I regret that I did not take Kuai Tong's advice and was deceived by the children."

This way of expressing the passive also occurs in two abbreviated forms: a) with the 所 suǒ omitted: 身客死于秦,為天下笑 shēn kè sǐ yú qín, wéi tiān xià xiào "And he himself died in a foreign land in Qin and was ridiculed by the Celestial Empire"; b) with the 所 suǒ omitted and the subject of the action: 父母宗族皆為戮歿 f ù mǔ zōng zú jiē wéi lù mò "Father, mother, and all blood relatives were killed."

47.2. The Construction 自...以 zi... yǐ

To indicate the direction of movement from a certain point, classical Chinese uses the construction 自...以 zì... yǐ "from... in the direction of...". This direction can be indicated by spatial indicators ("up," "down," etc.), including the names of the cardinal directions.

We encountered the expression 自王以下 zì wáng yǐ xià, which can be translated as "everyone, starting from the king" (meaning that the king occupies the highest position, and the rest of the people are below him).

47.3. The function word 即 jí (continuation)

We've already encountered the word 即 jí as an indicator of sequence of actions (41.2).

In addition, it is used as a subordinating conjunction introducing the main clause in a complex sentence with a conditional clause. In this sense, 即 jí is synonymous with 則 zé: 公徐行,即免死,急行,則及禍 gōng xú xíng, jí miǎn sǐ, jí xíng, zé jí huò "[If] you move slowly, you will avoid death, but if you hurry, you will get into trouble."
與之地,即無地以給之 yǔ zhī dì, jí wú dì yǐ gěi zhī "[If] it is a question of giving them land, then we do not have enough land to satisfy their."

即 jí can be used in complex sentences with a conditional clause and also to form a subordinate clause. In this case, it is synonymous with 如 rú:
子即反國,何以報寡人 zǐ jí fǎn guó, hé yǐ bào guǎ rén "If you return to your kingdom, how will you thank me?"
若幸而男,吾奉之,即女也,吾徐死耳 ruò xìng ér nán, wú f èng zhī, jí nǚ yě, wú xú sǐ ěr "If I'm lucky and a boy is born, I will accept him as a gift; and if it's a girl, then for me it will mean a slow death."

47.4. Adverbs

While only a very limited number of adverbs are found in archaic languages ​​(1.6), the development of the language throughout subsequent times, right up to the late classical period, led to a sharp increase in their number. Among the new adverbs we encountered for the first time in this lesson, we note: 固 gù "immediately", "from the very beginning": 季孫謀去中軍,豎牛曰夫子固欲去之 jì sūn móu qù zhōng jūn, shù niú yuē fū zǐ gù yù qù zhī "Jisun planned to leave the army, and Shunyu said: 'Master, you wanted to leave it from the very beginning'";
常 cháng "constantly", "all the time": 常從王媼武負貰酒 cháng cóng wáng ǎo wǔ f ù shì jiǔ “He constantly bought wine on credit from Wang Ao and Wu Fu”;
果 guǒ “really”, “in fact” (cf. archaic 允 yǔn): 竇太后哭極哀不食,曰帝果殺吾子 dòu tài hòu kū jí āi wù shí, yuē dì guǒ shā wú zǐ “Empress Dou sobbed angrily, refused food, saying: “The Emperor really did kill my child!”; 顧 gù “only”, “merely”: 彼非不愛其弟顧有所不能忍者也 bǐ fēi bù ài qí dì gù yǒu suǒ bù néng rěn zhě yě “It’s not that he didn’t like his younger brother, it’s just that there was something in his brother’s behavior that he couldn’t stand”; 數 shù “repeatedly”, “many times”: 數問其家金余尚有幾所 shù wèn qí jiā j īn yú shàng yǒu j ǐ suǒ "I asked my family many times how much money I had left"; 親 qīn "personally": 親於其身為不善者君子不入也 qīn yú qí shēn wéi bù shàn zhě jūn zǐ bù rù yě "A noble person should not associate with those who do evil to themselves."