Expressing "even" with "shenzhi"
Revision as of 09:35, 24 October 2011 by Jonathan.pope (talk | contribs)
甚至 (shènzhì) is similar that of "even" in English.
When used as a conjunction, it is generally used to emphasize the last idea of the sentence. Sometimes this kind of sentence has the feeling that the speaker realizes half way through the sentence that they haven't gone far enough, and want to take the idea one step further.
For example:
- 看 到 前 女友 的 照片 让 他 感到 遗憾 甚至 痛苦。
- 在 中国，不但 教育 水平 高 的 人 会 背诵 唐诗， 甚至 连 小 孩子 都 会。
甚至 can also be used as an adverb, and is often used like this:
adj + 得 + 甚至 + verb + object
Some examples:
- 中 国 的 网速 慢 得 让 我 甚至 想 打 人！
- 天气 热 得 我甚至 都 没有 胃口 吃饭。
- 他 骑 自行车 骑 得 甚至 比 汽车 跑 得 还 快。
- 他 是 个 的 探险家，他 甚至 去 过 北极
不但 (bùdàn) and 甚至 can be used to form a structure similar to 不但...而且 (bùdàn...érqiě), meaning "not only...even". 甚至 is often followed by the 连...都 (lián...dōu) structure to add further emphasis.
