可...的

[Crush]

I'm not quite sure how this structure works. The definition in my textbook is:

"可"表示值得。惯用的格式是"可 +（动）+ 的"。

So it's something worth doing? From the text i've got: 可笑的是...

...which i'm assuming is something like "The funny thing is..." That makes sense to me, but some of the sentences they want me to make are confusing me. For example:

他已经这样决定了，还有什么可__的呢！

or

_____可挑剔的。

Could someone give me some examples using these types of sentences? Thanks

[Nathan Mao]

可笑的 is laughable (worth laughing at).

可看的 is worth seeing.

可靠的 is reliable (worth relying on)

可爱的 is adorable (worth loving) some say "lovable" but it is used more like an American would use adorable.

可说的 would be "worth saying", I guess, but I can't remember hearing someone use this.

可卖的 is worth selling

[Demonic_Duck]

可笑 is laughable or ridiculous, rather than funny. I think 可（动） constructions are sometimes more than the sum of their parts, as per 可爱 mentioned above.

 

Another common one is 可怜 (pitiable).

[Nathan Mao]

I forgot that one!

 

But it made me think of another one:

可惜！(what a shame!)

[Crush]

Thanks, so i did have the basic idea. How would you use it at the end of a sentence, as in "他已经这样决定了，还有什么可__的呢！"？ And what could be worth "nitpicking"? In the first i just want to say 做, but it doesn't quite make sense to me:

"He's already decided (that's how it'll be), there's still something worth doing (to be done?)"

For the second, perhaps:

你的工作做得很棒，没什么可挑剔的。

EDIT: I just wanted to say thanks for the responses

[Nathan Mao]

Yep, "what could be worth nitpicking"

But 可做的 "what else is there to be done?" also works for me, though I'm not sure I've heard it before.

I guess it could also be 还有什么可讨论的呢 "What is there left to discuss?"

[Demonic_Duck]

Yeah, it looks to me like the punctuation mark at the end there is a typo, should be a question mark instead of an exclamation mark.

 

I think you could just go with "还有什么可说的呢？"

[tooironic]

It may be helpful to remember that some terms that use 可 such as 可憐, 可笑, 可惡 etc. are just words, but if you're talking about the 可...的 structure, that's a different type of thing.

 

Wenlin gives a good example: 這可不是鬧著玩兒的。("This is no joke.") Here, 可...的 is a fixed structure, with 鬧著玩兒 acting as one term ("to kid around; to joke"). That's different to two-syllable words that happened to feature 可 as a prefix.

[Nathan Mao]

To me, that's still the same thing. 這可不是鬧著玩兒的 could be understood as "This is something worth not joking about"。

[Crush]

Ok, thanks. I was wondering if the punctuation mark was correct, that's what was throwing me off in that sentence. I think the points I wasn't too clear on before make sense to me now. Thanks everyone

[adbase]

In my opinion,sometimes you can easily  translate "可……的" to "...can/could (be)..."

还有什么可挑剔的呢?

Is there anything could be criticized?

还有什么可讨论的呢

What is there left could be discussed?

這可不是鬧著玩兒的。

This(这) can not be (可不是...的) joked(闹着玩)。

 

And also,  you can abridge "可+(verb)的" into“可+(Verb)”

还有什么可讨论的呢？==还有什么可讨论呢？

你很可爱的==你很可爱.

他很可靠的==他很可靠。

These sentences have no different meaning.

[Crush]

Thanks, adbase. I've come across the structure a few times since in conversations and reading and it generally makes sense to me. Sometimes my English interpretation of it sounds a bit odd, but understandable nonetheless. I guess it makes perfect sense in Chinese so that's what counts ;)

[Elizabeth_rb]

I always think of 可+verb as meaning vb-able.