Expressing "let alone" with "geng buyong shuo"
Revision as of 02:35, 8 November 2011 by Jonathan.pope (talk | contribs)
更不用说 (gèng bùyòng shuō) means "not to mention", "or let alone".
For example:
- 他 都 不 会 煮 鸡蛋， 更不用说 做 一 大 桌子 的 饭 了。
- 他 连 自己 国家 的 国旗 都 不 认识， 更不用说 其他 国家 的 了。
- 他 从来 没有 背 过 一 首 诗， 更不用说 一 本 书。
From the above, we can see that 更不用说 is often used with the 连...都... construction, often used to emphasize someone's lack of ability, something like: "you're stupid enough that you can't even X, let alone Y"
Unless the first action is negated with 没有, using 更不用说 generally requires using 了 to emphasize that the speaker is adding his/her own comment.
