theblip Posted October 31, 2004 at 04:12 AM Report Posted October 31, 2004 at 04:12 AM Could someone please explain the usage of 非。。。不可? Thanks. Quote
roddy Posted October 31, 2004 at 09:25 AM Report Posted October 31, 2004 at 09:25 AM 非 makes something negative - 非常 - not-ordinary. I saw 非空 on a bus today - ie, not air-conditioned (空调） 不可 - i guess you can think of this as shortened 不可以 - not allowed. so 非A不可 means 'not doing A is not allowed' - cancel out the negatives and you get 'A must be done'. An example I noticed recently was 非抓他们不可 - We must catch them, or we cannot let them get away. Roddy 1 Quote
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