Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

conjunctions that indicate a disjunctive or ‘or’ relationship

16.2

16.2 conjunctions that indicate a disjunctive or ‘or’ relationship

16.2.1 还是/還是 háishi ‘or’

还是/還是 háishi is used in questions that ask the addressee to choose between two alterna-

tives, only one of which can be true or possible. It conveys the sense of ‘either... or.’ 还是/

還是 háishi questions often end with 呢 ne.

Q: 你是来旅游的还是来学习的？ A: 我是来学习的。

你是來旅遊的還是來學習的？ 我是來學習的。

Nǐ shì lái lǚyóu de háishi lái xuéxí de? Wǒ shì lái xuéxí de.

Did you come for vacation or to study? I came to study.

Q: 你要喝红茶还是喝花茶呢？ A: 我要喝红茶。

你要喝紅茶還是喝花茶呢？ 我要喝紅茶。

Nǐ yào hē hóng chá háishi hē huā chá ne? Wǒ yào hē hóng chá.

Do you want to drink black tea or jasmine tea? I want to drink black tea.

(In Chinese: red tea or jasmine tea?)

还是/還是 háishi precedes verb phrases. However, if the second verb phrase begins with 是 shì,

是 shì is usually omitted.

Q: 你是美国人还是英国人呢？ A: 我是美国人。

你是美國人還是英國人呢？ 我是美國人。

Nǐ shì Měiguórén háishi Yīngguórén ne? Wǒ shì Měiguórén.

Are you American or British? I’m American.

还是/還是 háishi is sometimes included in an answer to a 还是/還是 háishi question to mark the

preferred alternative. In this usage, 还是/還是 háishi functions as an adverb and not as a conjunction.

Q: 你想这个问题，是现在讨论好 A: 我想还是以后再讨论好。

还是以后再讨论好？

你想這個問題，是現在討論好 我想還是以後再討論好。

還是以後再討論好？

Nǐ xiǎng zhège wèntí, shì xiànzài tǎolùn Wǒ xiǎng háishi yǐhòu

hǎo háishi yǐhòu zài tǎolùn hǎo? zài tǎolùn hǎo.

(As for) this question, do you think

we should talk about it now or later?

I think we should talk

about it later.

C15, 28.3

16.2.2 或者 huòzhG ‘or’

或者 huòzhě ‘or’ is used in statements to present two alternatives, both of which are possible.

Q: 你要今天去长城还是明天去长城？ A: 今天去或者明天去都行。

你要今天去長城還是明天去長城？

Nǐ yào jīntiān qù Chángchéng háishi

míngtiān qù Chángchéng?

Jīntiān qù huòzhě

míngtiān qù dōu xíng.

Do you want to go to the Great Wall

today or tomorrow?

Today and tomorrow are

both okay.

Mandarin conjunctions are much more restricted than English conjunctions in the grammatical

categories that they join. In Mandarin, the ‘and’ conjunctions only join noun phrases. The ‘or’

conjunctions only join verb phrases.

Most Mandarin connecting words are adverbs. They are presented in the relevant chapters on

sentence connection.

C41.2, 42.2.2, 43, 44, 45