HELP!!!!
hitokiri6993
April 27, 2008 at 03:34 PM posted in General Discussion大家好! Can someone help me differentiate 卻and但?
I know they both mean "But" , but I get confused which one to use. Can someone also give me some examples? Thanks in advance! :)
pituitaryadenoma
April 28, 2008 at 05:05 PM
Dear Hitokiri,
Both sentence are right and carry the same meaning.
henning
April 28, 2008 at 04:27 PM
hitokiri6993,
I am definately the wrong person to ask this kind of question...
;)
But my wife said, both are correct and about the same regarding their meaning.
hitokiri6993
April 28, 2008 at 03:44 PM
Hi henning...please correct me if I'm wrong, but from my understanding...但 is used as a conjunction used to connect clauses and such while 卻 is used as an adverb, right?
Here's my possibly incorrect sentence: :D
你卻不在 "Nevertheless, you're not here."
and
...但是你不在 "...but you're not here."
Does it have the same meaning?
henning
April 27, 2008 at 03:55 PM
Hi hitokiri6993,
I posed a very similar question once here:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/importexport/
Here my question:
"It would have never came to my mind to put a 却 in 但是外国对中国出口的东西却要提高关税.
Isn't the "however" meaning not already covered with the 但是? And beyond that, why put it at that seemingly arbitrary position in front of the 要? Is there a logic behind that or is this once again one of those "You need to feel the force"-type of thing?"
And John's answer:
Yes, the "however" meaning is communicated by the 但是 (dànshì), but it is further reinforced by the 却 (què). The positioning is anything but arbitrary, however. Unlike 但是 (dànshì), however, 却 (què) is an adverb, so it has to go before the verb.
light487
April 27, 2008 at 03:54 PM
They appear to be interchangeable to me.. The only thing I can see the difference is that 却 is more of a thing where you would say "However, this is the right way and the only way. As compared with, 但 which tends to suggest a more open-minded point of view: "However, this a good way of doing it as well."
I am just a newbie so I am most likely wrong though.. :)
hitokiri6993
April 28, 2008 at 05:05 PMhenning, thanks a lot! I'm getting it and all I need is practice with 但 & 卻。 :) 非常感謝!