(xià qù) - to go down; to continue, to keep going in Mandarin
xiàqùTraditional: 下去
Translation
to go down; to continue, to keep going
Word origin
A two-character directional compound meaning to go down, or figuratively to continue. 下 (xià) 'down' joins 去 (qù) 'to go', indicating motion downward and away from the speaker.
- Origin
- compound
- Root
- 下 (xià, 'down') + 去 (qù, 'to go')
Stroke order
下
去
Examples
？
Can you keep going?
。
Please continue speaking.
。
Let us walk down together.
。
He walks down from upstairs.
。
Whatever happens, we must carry on.
下去 (xià qù) has two distinct uses. Literally it means to go downward (走下去, go down, e.g. stairs). As a directional complement attached to verbs it indicates continuation of an action: 说下去 (continue speaking), 坚持下去 (keep persisting), 活下去 (continue living). This continuation meaning is extremely common in everyday Mandarin. Its complement pair is 下来 (xià lái), which indicates coming down towards the speaker.
Used in
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Go to my review queueThis word is part of lesson 11.