Difference between revisions of "Expressing "no" (noun) "to" (verb) with "wu... ke...""

Revision as of 09:48, 25 July 2018

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This pattern is formal and has sort of a classical feel to it. It's a more condensed form of "没有 [Noun] 可以 [Verb]." 无 (wú) means "to not have" (same as 没有), and 可 can stand in for 可以. This pattern is useful when you want to express that a person is unable to perform the verb because the noun/object is not present.

Structure

无 +Noun + 可 + Verb

Sources and further reading

Books

Anything Goes (无所不谈) (pp. 107) Anything Goes (无所不谈) →buy

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 ==Sources and further reading==
-=== Examples ===
-<div class="liju">
-*哥哥很聪明, 我在他面前<em>无</em>计<em>可</em>施. <span class="trans">My brother is very smart, I have nothing to do/show/calculate in front of him. </span>
-*一定要认真地修改公司条款, 让对方<em>无</em>机<em>可</em>乘. <span class="trans">They must carefully change the company's terms, so opponents will not have an opportunity to take advantage. </span>
-*公司破产了, 张生变成了<em>无</em>家<em>可</em>归的人. <span class="trans">The company went bankrupt, and Zhang Sheng became a homeless person (a person with no home to return to). </span>
-Here are some common pairings for the structure: 无迹可寻、无利可图、无路可走、无懈可击、无计可施、无机可乘、无计可施.
-</div>
 === Books ===