Too Many Chinese Buts !

calkins
 March 05, 2008 at 03:44 AM posted in General Discussion

Not trying to be funny with the title (well, maybe a little:)....<strong>but</strong> so far I've come across 3 different words for "but":

 

不过 / 不過
bùguò

 

可是
kě shì

 

但
dàn

 

Can anyone explain when it's best to use each, or are they all interchangeable?

 

謝謝 ！

Brent

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trevelyan
 March 05, 2008 at 04:02 AM

I've seen 但是 more in writing - tend to hear 可是 most of all when watching television or listening to the radio. Anyone with different experiences in other parts of China?

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calkins
 March 05, 2008 at 03:52 AM

Oh, and a tip if you're inserting html in a new post...make sure you click on the "HTML Source Editor" in the upper right of the post box.