Yes and No in wenyan

[Mark Yong]

I am compiling a list of negatives and positives used in Classical Chinese:

不 - negater of verbs/actions
未 - negator of actions (not yet)
無 - negator of existence (none)
非 - negator of nouns (it is not)
勿 - negative imperative (do not)
莫 - negative distributive (there is no case of)
免 - negator of requirement (no need)

可- can (opposite of 勿)
能 - can (opposite of 勿)
必- must (opposite of 免)
有 - existence (opposite of 無)

I am trying to find out the word for "yes", i.e. just affirming a statement or identity, e.g. "yes, I am such-and-such". I am aware that 是 cannot be used, as it means "this". If so, is the word 然? I note that it is used in 孟子 on its own to denote "yes, the previous statement is so".

[Amego]

yoz...actualli there are still quite a number of others...

不要- 勿 休 別
不是- 否 毋 非
沒有- 無
不能- ??
不可- 莫 叵
不用- 免
還沒- 未

as for 是, wenyan is 乃

therefore, I am so-and-so becomes

吾乃某某也.

The 也 functions much as -desu in Japanese.

And of course, 不是 is 非也.

Hope it helps in any way =P

[Mark Yong]

Hi, Amego,

Thanks. Interesting that you brought up the word 乃. I heard a phrase used in the movie 風雲, "此乃是非之地". That got me wondering: Is the subject of the sentence "是非之地" (i.e. "decision ground") or "非之地" (i.e. "evil ground"). In other words, is the imperative particle "乃" or "乃是"?

Hope I am making sense.

Regards,
Mark

[Amego]

Hi, Amego,

Thanks. Interesting that you brought up the word 乃. I heard a phrase used in the movie 風雲, "此乃是非之地". That got me wondering: Is the subject of the sentence "是非之地" (i.e. "decision ground") or "非之地" (i.e. "evil ground"). In other words, is the imperative particle "乃" or "乃是"?

Hope I am making sense.

Regards,
Mark

Yoyo Mark...Well this is an interesting qns....i will give u a complete answer =p

First lets look at e phrase...此-乃是-非之地 & 此-乃-是非之地...both are possible...so if you can listen to the phrase from 風雲 again, then look out whether its 此乃是<pause>非之地 or 此乃<pause>是非之地...its probably the latter, so the ans is out...but we cannot assume now....

In my dict, it says,

乃：[副]乃是，就是
[注意] “乃”不等於是， 不能算是動詞或係詞.
我們可以說 “不是”，但不能說“不乃”.由此可證明它不是單純的動詞或係詞.

Therefore officially, 乃 cannot exist alone.

BUT i've got some solid examples that it can,

"失敗乃成功之母。" Failure precedes success.

Haha...but yet i have an INTERESTING example....

"錢財乃是身外物。" Smooth...think tt's wat ppl says...
"錢財乃身外之物。" Flowing...
"錢財乃身外物。" Seems to be missing something...
"錢財乃是身外之物。" Quite smooth...


I think the above is e ultimate example...therefore BOTH terms makes sense....it depends on the very context ba...

Therefore, to your question, based on my experience and logic,
"此乃是非之地",

"乃"為係詞,

"是非之地"為名詞

P.S. 此-乃是-非之地...is not very smooth...

haha okok...i don act chim le....hope it ans ur qns =p

[Mark Yong]

Thanks, Amego. That really helped to clear things up. My Classical Chinese text - Michael A. Fuller's "An Introduction to Literary Chinese" - lists all the words for "no", but not for "yes". So far, I have only been able to find 然. But 然 is used in the context of "...是這樣". What I was also looking for was "這個是...", which you have identified as 乃.

Cheers,
Mark

[hong]

失敗乃成功之母 nai is 動詞 here.
副詞 for nai is for 竟﹐居然﹐才﹐始
連詞 nai is 然後﹐卻﹐而﹐若。
代詞for nai is 他﹐你 。
諾 is a reply for yes.

[unnai]

I heard a phrase used in the movie 風雲, "此乃是非之地". That got me wondering: Is the subject of the sentence "是非之地" (i.e. "decision ground") or "非之地" (i.e. "evil ground").