Kilo Lingo

Ch 10 · Lesson 14

Budan erqie

Prescribed by the AQA specification.

The short version

(búdàn) needs a partner in the second half

，。Zhè jiā fànguǎn búdàn piányi, érqiě hěn hǎochī.

This restaurant isn't just cheap, it's good too.
Why?

(búdàn), 'not only', opens a frame, and the second half must close it with (érqiě), (hái) or (yě). Leave it bare and the sentence sounds unfinished. (érqiě) is the safe default, and it can also stand alone, with nothing before it.

(búdàn): after one subject, before two

，。Búdàn wǒ qù, wǒ mèimei yě qù.

Not only am I going, my sister is too.
Why?

With one subject for both halves, (búdàn) goes after it: (wǒ búdàn qù le), (érqiě qù de hěn zǎo). With two different subjects, it goes in front of the first, and (yě) marks the new one.

(búdàn méi)… (fǎn'ér): the opposite

雨，。Yǔ búdàn méi tíng, fǎn'ér yuè xià yuè dà.

Far from stopping, the rain got heavier.
Why?

Put a negative in the first half and (fǎn'ér), 'on the contrary', opens the second: the opposite of what you expected happened. Use (méi) for something that did not happen, and (bù) for an adjective or a habit.

That's the gist. The full article goes deeper - more examples, the edge cases, the why - and the practice below scores like a vocabulary session and earns the same XP.

Read the full article · 5 min read

Practice

Practise this lesson

10-question session

One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end. There are 13 in all: practise more afterwards if you want them.

Lesson 14 of 16 in this chapter

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