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HSK 4 Connectors & compound sentences

不是 … 就是 …

Either… or… (不是…就是…)

Structure 不是 + A,就是 + B

不是…就是… (bùshì… jiùshì…) says there are only two options and it’s one of them: "if not A, then B". 他每天不是看书就是看电视 = "every day he either reads or watches TV". It implies there’s nothing else (sometimes with a hint of annoyance).

Examples

  • měitiānshìkànshūjiùshìkàndiànshì

    Every day he either reads or watches TV.

  • zhōushìxiàjiùshìguāfēng

    On weekends it either rains or it’s windy.

  • shìjiùshì

    Either you go or I go.

Levels are indicative: they follow the standard Chinese Grammar Wiki (AllSet Learning) progression, not an official HSK 3.0 mapping. We never assign levels by eye.

This point and the other 370, with audio on every example, inside Wanyu.

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