Difference between 要么 and 或者

[PBolchover]

The sentence patterns "要么 ... 要么 ..." and "或者 ... 或者 ..." both seem to be translated as "either ... or ...".

Are there any differences between the two? Or are they direct replacements? Or is it simply regional preferences, or spoken vs written differences, etc?

[skylee]

Is "或者 ... 或者 ..." a pattern?

[David Wong]

As I understand it, you can string a number of 要么 together, but it may not be entirely correct to do that with 或者。

[Radzilla]

The way I understand it, 要么 is kind of like a binary choice: it must either be this, or that. 或者 does not really seem to have that implication. I am also not familiar with 或者...或者 as a pattern.

[shinewind]

I would say “或者” is almost a loner. Instead of saying “或者…或者…” , you can say “…或者…”.

要么打电话，要么发信函。(√ and commonly used)

或者打电话，或者发信函。( I wouldn’t say “not correct” as most native will have no problem understanding it, but it’s a little weird.)

打电话或者发信函。(√ and commonly used)

[shinewind]

The way I understand it, 要么 is kind of like a binary choice: it must either be this, or that. 或者 does not really seem to have that implication.

That is not true. You can replace “要么…要么…” with”…或者…” for most cases. They both can mean “either…or…”.

[imron]

I would say “或者” is almost a loner.

But it does exist, for example, by pure coincidence, here's first sentence of the book I started reading today:

很多心情，当时没有释放，或者因为没有时间，或者因为无人可说.

[shinewind]

But it does exist

That's why the usage of ALMOST is much safer than ABSOLUTELY.

Once you get to know the Chinese language you start to realize that ABSOLUTELY is a word used too much but almost suits nowhere.

[creamyhorror]

But it does exist, for example, by pure coincidence, here's first sentence of the book I started reading today:

很多心情，当时没有释放，或者因为没有时间，或者因为无人可说.

The conclusion to draw from here is that "或者 ... 或者 ..." is not a pattern (as you said) - rather, "... 或者 ... " is (as shinewind said). Everyone's in agreement here.

[yialanliu]

Wish I saw this topic earlier.

Disagree with the conclusion.

或者 ... 或者 ... is something that's used pretty frequently actually. Although I don't know if it's a pattern per say but I do think it's one of those that you can chain almost indefinitely.

My take is

或者 = you have the choice to do one of the following, but you can choose to do none or something else

要么 = you really should do one of the following, a stronger please choose one of the following.

The reason for this is because 或者 is more question based. Whereas 要么 is more declarative.

你要么吃鱼要么吃肉。

你吃鱼或者肉？

[tooironic]

Excuse my ignorance, but I thought only 還是 was used to create or-based questions? I don't think I've ever heard 或者 used as a question word (i.e. without 嗎 on the end) but I may be wrong.

[yialanliu]

You are right when comparing 或者and 还是 where 还是 should really only be used for questions。However, 或者 can definitely be used in questions as well and regular statements. Typically, you need a 吗 or something that makes it obvious a question. I typically use it with tonal differences.

[creamyhorror]

I don't really think of 或者 and 要么 as similar.

要么 = 要就 = if you want to, then... (exclusive 'or')

或者 = inclusive 'or' = merely lists possibilities without any implication of doing them

或者 is much more general than 要么. 要么 is "if you want to do A, just do it!" 或者 is just "this or that".

还是 = exclusive 'or' = either A or B

还是 is the mutually exclusive, choose-one equivalent of 或者. Both can be used in questions:

你想吃面类还是米饭呢? = Do you want noodles, or do you want rice?

你想吃面类或者米饭吗? = Do you want some noodles or rice? (where "noodles or rice" is a single unit)

I would use 吗 to mark the second (as a yes-no question) and 呢 to mark the first (as an open-ended question).

I'm interested to know if you guys agree with my interpretation.

edit: the remainder shouldn't even have been here

[yialanliu]

Great, copied what I wrote word for word and called it "my interpretation"

[roddy]

He's just forgotten the quote tags. 'My interpretation' is the bit above, then he's quoted you and commented. He's not robbed your content.

[creamyhorror]

Great, copied what I wrote word for word and called it "my interpretation"

At first I was scratching my head at why you thought I had copied you, because I didn't even write about the same thing as you. Anyway I've fixed up my post. (Thanks roddy.)