Another way to express the passive in classical Chinese is with the function word 見 jiàn. The latter is placed before the predicate, and the subject of the action takes the position of an indirect object and is formed by the preposition 於 yú:
吾常見笑於大方之家 wú cháng jiàn xiào yú dà fāng zhī jiā "I am often ridiculed by noble houses."
何故見怨於人 hé gù jiàn yuàn yú rén "Why am I unfairly treated by people?"
When the subject of the action is not essential, or is clear from the context, the complement may be omitted:
蘇武使匈奴,見留二十年 sū wǔ shǐ xiōng nú, jiàn liú èr shí nián "Su Wu was sent to the Xiongnu, and he was detained there for twenty years."
One form of adverbial modifier of time that can only appear at the beginning of a sentence is the construction with the word 時 shí.
The word 時 shí "time" is preceded by a modifier, which can be a noun, nominal phrase, or predicative phrase.
The construction with 時 shí is often formed by the preposition 當 dāng, but the latter is not required:
當趙惠文王時 dāng zhào huì wén wáng shí "during the time of Emperor Huiwen of Zhao."
In classical Chinese, we encountered some adverbs with a restrictive meaning:
直 zhí 高帝曰公罷,吾直戲耳 gāo dì yuē gōng bà wú zhí xì ěr "Gao Di said: 'Stop it! I was just joking!'"
特 te 高帝曰公罷矣,吾特戲耳 gāo dì yuē gōng bà yǐ wú tè xì ěr (the same sentence with a different adverb).
Furthermore, other restrictive adverbs are used in classical texts:
獨 dú 不疑狀貌甚美,然獨無奈其善盜嫂何也 bù yí zhuàng mào shèn měi, rán dú wú nài qí shàn dào cǎo hé yě "Wu[Zhi] Buyi is quite handsome, but he can't do anything about his thieving sister-in-law."
但 dàn 但聞悲風蕭條之聲 dàn wén bēi fēng xiāo tiáo zhī shēng "Only the mournful howling of the wind can be heard."
僅 jǐn 齊王遁而走莒僅以身免 qí wáng dùn ér zǒu jǔ jǐn yǐ shēn miǎn "The ruler of the state of Qi fled to Ju, and only he himself managed to escape."
徒 tú 王如用予,則豈徒齊民安,天下之民舉安 wáng rú yòng yú, zé qǐ tú qí mín ān, tiān xia zhī mín jǔ ān "If you, ruler, accept my advice, will only the people of the State of Qi find peace? All the people of the Celestial Empire will be pacified."
This construction has much in common with the phrase 如...何 rú... hé (38.6). It means "what to do with...", "how to be with...":
奈吾君何 nài wú jūn hé "How to be with our lord?"
虞兮虞兮,奈若何 yú xī yú xī, nài ruò hé "Oh, my Yu, my Yu! What will happen to you?"
However, unlike 如...何 rú... hé, the construction 奈...何 nài... hé cannot take the form 何奈 hé nài. If the object is omitted, the order of the components of the construction does not change:
諸侯不從,奈何 zhū hóu bù cóng, nài hé "If the Zhuhou do not follow us, what should we do?"
The negative form of this construction is formed with 無 wú:
無奈其嫂何 wú nài qí sǎo hé "He can't do anything about his sister-in-law."
Sometimes this construction includes the modal predicate ké:
禍成矣,無可奈何 huò chéng yǐ, wú kě nài hé "Trouble is inevitable, and nothing can be done about it."
The word "nìng" can serve various functions.
Let's note two of them:
a) It is used in a rhetorical question, being a synonym for "qǐ":
居馬上得之,寜可以馬上治之乎 jū mǎ shàng dé zhī, nìng kě yǐ mǎ shàng zhì zhī hū "[One can] obtain it while riding a horse, but can one control it while riding a horse?"
亡一姬復一姬進,天下所少寜賈姬等乎 wáng yī jī fù yī jī jìn, tiān xià suǒ shǎo nìng jiǎ jī děng hū “Lose one concubine, another will appear! Are there not enough beauties in the Celestial Empire like Jia-ji and her ilk?
b) The word 寜 nìng can function as an adverb, corresponding to the English "better to":
寜為雞口無為牛後 nìng wéi jī kǒu wú wéi niú hòu "It is better to be a rooster's beak than a bull's ass."
吾寜鬥智,不能鬥力 wú nìng dòu zhì, bù néng dòu lì "It is better to compete in wits, but one should not compete in strength."
One way to express a general question is to place the negative predicate 否 fǒu at the end of a sentence (37.3). In the Late Classical period, 不 bù began to be used instead of 否 fǒu to express a general question:
公卿有可以防其未然救其已然者不 gōng qīng yǒu kě yǐ fáng qí wèi rán jiù qí yǐ rán zhě bù "Do you have anything at your disposal that can prevent what has not yet happened and save what has already happened?"
The ruler of the State of Zhao, Huaiwen Wang, reigned from 298 to 266 BCE. His younger brother, Pingyuan Jun, served as his prime minister.
The jasper ornament 璧 bì (13.3), associated with the name of a certain Chu Emperor He, was surrounded by many legends in ancient China.
One of them tells how He found a piece of uncut jasper and, realizing he was dealing with an extremely valuable specimen, presented it as a gift to the ruler. He then handed the jasper to a court craftsman. The latter, unable to discern the jasper's hidden qualities, declared it a simple stone. The outraged ruler ordered He punished for his offensive joke by cutting off his leg.
When the ruler's heir ascended the throne, He brought the jasper back to the palace, but history repeated itself, and he lost his other leg.
Finally, this ruler also changed, and then He took the jasper in his hands and sat in full view of the people, shedding bitter tears. When asked why, he replied, "I'm crying not because I've lost both legs, but because this jewel, unparalleled in the Celestial Empire, has yet to be crafted."
The ruler ordered the jasper to be crafted, and indeed, its magnificent qualities exceeded all expectations.
Later, He's Chu jasper migrated from kingdom to kingdom until it came to Zhao, which set the stage for the story told in Lessons 48–50.
The presence of a harem in the palace led to the appointment of eunuchs to court dignitary positions. The senior eunuch had access to the inner chambers of the palace and was therefore often very close to the ruler.
Politeness standards required speakers to use not only polite forms of address when addressing their interlocutor, but also special derogatory expressions when referring to themselves.
The word 竊 qiè is one of these. Its original meaning is "to steal." When used in direct speech before a predicate, it gives the sentence a particularly polite form. This word may not be translated into English due to the lack of a suitable equivalent.