Confusing Sentence Structure.

[海象]

Hey can someone help me break down the last part of this sentence If found in a book?

 

我很高兴， 也挺喜欢这个张主任，觉得他虽然长的不怎么帅，但是给我当领导却很合适。

 

So I'm getting that the narrator thinks the manager, zhang, isn't very good looking, but he would be a good leader toward the narrator. I am very confused as to what 当 and 却 mean here in this context.

 

谢谢！

 

[js6426]

Hi, and welcome to the forum! 

 

There are people who will be able to give you a much better answer than me, but I want to have a crack at it just to see if I'm on the right lines!  As far I as understand, 当 can be used to mean 'to be' when relating to a position/job.  却 can mean nevertheless.  So I think the sense here is although Director Zhang isn't very handsome, he is great as the narrator's leader nevertheless.  The thing I find confusing is why both 但是 and 却 are required, as I think you could replace 但是 with 却 and have virtually the same meaning.  I think the equivalent in English would be '...but...nevertheless...'  Rather than just '...but...'

[Publius]

46 minutes ago, js6426 said:

The thing I find confusing is why both 但是 and 却 are required, as I think you could replace 但是 with 却 and have virtually the same meaning.  I think the equivalent in English would be '...but...nevertheless...'  Rather than just '...but...'

虽然……但是…… is a conjunction pair. These things are different from language to language.

You have conjunction pairs too: 'not only... but also' 不仅……而且……。 It happens to be paired in both English and Chinese. But others are not necessarily so (in the previous sentence, for example, 'both' is unnecessary in Chinese, because we use an adverb 都 to express the same meaning).

Another example:

因为……所以…… literally means 'because... therefore'. You only need one word in English, but both are required in Chinese.

Ditto 虽然……但是…… literally 'although... however'. It's just how it is.

[js6426]

1 minute ago, Publius said:

虽然……但是…… is a conjunction pair. These things are different from language to language.

 

So in the case of this sentence, what is the function of 却？

[Publius]

17 minutes ago, js6426 said:

So in the case of this sentence, what is the function of 却？

却 is an adverb that means 'but, yet, however, nonetheless'. But the usage is different from an English conjunctive adverb.

See https://resources.allsetlearning.com/gramwiki/?title=The_"however"_adverb_"que", especially this part:

Quote

It's also important to point out that 却 is not a conjunction; it's an adverb. Practically speaking, this means that rather than joining two statements, it goes inside a statement (within the second clause). Specifically, it needs to come after the subject and before the verb. (Note that when you use a conjunction like 但是 it comes before the subject! 却 is different in this respect. Also, rather than replacing 但是, it can work with it to add emphasis.

 

[imron]

7 hours ago, 海象 said:

but he would be a good leader toward the narrator

Leader is probably not the best translation.  It's more like boss/manager.

[海象]

Thanks Publius and js6426! the meaning is crystal clear now!