Expressing "again" in the past with "you"
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Whenever you want to express something like "you did it again!" in Chinese, you generally want to use 又 (yòu).
Contents
又 when something happened more than once in the past
Structure
Normally, 又 is used to express an action that has already happened again for (at least) the second time. It doesn't have to be in quick succession; it happened before, and now it's happened again.
又＋Verb＋了
Examples
- 又 来了 ！Here comes it again!
- 你 又 迟到 了。You came late again.
- 你 又 写 错 了。You wrote it wrong again.
- 你们 又 忘 了 我 的 生日。You all forgot my birthday again.
- 宝宝 又 哭 了。The baby is crying again.
- 他 又 喝 醉 了？He got drunk again?
Note "又来了" is a little tricky here because it means to express something that's now happening but it's already happened as the speaker is speaking. It's pretty much the same with "Here it comes again", and it indicates that the speaker doesn't like the fact that it happened.
又 when something is about to occur
Structure
When it becomes clear that something is about to happen again, you can also use 又. It's almost as if it has already happened in your mind. In these cases, it's quite common for 又 to be immediately followed by 是 (shì), 要 (yào), 可以 (kěyǐ), 应该(yīnggāi), 能 (néng), and you'll notice that there's often a 了, indicating that something is about to happen.
又 + 是＋Noun
又 + 要 / 会 / 能 / 应该 + Verb Phrase ( + 了)
Examples
- 明天 又 是 星期 一 ！Tomorrow will be Monday AGAIN!
- 我 又 要 迟到 了。I'm going to be late again.
- 这 个 周末又 要 加班 了。This weekend we need to work overtime again.
- 又该 我 请客 了？It's my turn to treat again?
- 又 要 过年 了，我们 又 能 拿 压岁钱 了！It's the new year again.We can get our new year money again!
See also
- Again in the past with "you"
- Emphasizing negation with "you"
- Comparing "zai" and "you"
- "Both A and B" with "you"
- "Both… and…" with "ji...you"
Sources and further reading
Books
- 现代汉语八百词（增订本） (p. 633) →buy
- 现代汉语虚词例释 (p. 588)→buy
Dictionaries
- 现代汉语词典（第5版） (p. 1656) →buy
