还是 and 还

[agines124]

My question is about the difference between 还是 and 还 . I know that both words can mean ''still ''. The thing is that I don't know whether these words are interchangeable or not . I would be very grateful if anyone could explain this to me.

 

[somethingfunny]

When they mean "still" then they are interchangeable.  However, you need to be a little careful.  If the verb in the sentence is 是 then you can't swap them, for example:

 

This is OK:

你明天去吗？

Are you going tomorrow?

你明天还去吗？

Are you still going tomorrow?

你明天还是去吗？

Are you still going tomorrow?

 

Here, the extra 是 is just doing what it normally does and adding emphasis.

 

However:

 

你们是朋友吗？

Are you guys friends?

你们还是朋友吗？

Are you guys still friends?

你们还朋友吗？

This is not OK.

 

For the other meanings of 还是 (or) and 还 (swap, pronounced huan2), these are not interchangeable.