HSK 5Lesson 2 of 11 · 7 grammar points
Precision in degree, timing and stance
Higher-level adverbs distinguish excess from intensity, eventuality from imminence, deliberate effort from personal involvement and fulfilled expectations from reversal. Read the speaker's prior assumption to interpret 反而、果然 or 居然 accurately.
Learning goals (7)
- Strong and excessive degree.
- Phases and urgency.
- Recurring tendencies.
- Best efforts and personal involvement.
- Prompt consequences.
- Seeming and resemblance.
- Stance and expectation.
过于
Strong and excessive degree
过于 signals excessive degree; 相当 considerable degree; 较 formal comparison; 格外 special intensity; 极其 extreme degree. 可 can add colloquial emphasis.
别过于担心。
Don't worry excessively.
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过于复杂 excessively complex; 相当困难 quite difficult; 较好 relatively good; 可漂亮了 really pretty in conversation; 格外安静 exceptionally quiet; 极其重要 extremely important. Degree and appropriateness are separate: over-complex includes criticism, very complex need not.
Pitfall: 过于 usually implies excess, unlike a neutral 很.
即将
Phases and urgency
曾经 and 早已 look back; 即将 anticipates; 渐渐 develops; 立刻、连忙、急忙、尽快 urge or describe speed; 始终、时刻 continuity; 早晚 eventuality.
他即将离开这座城市。
He is about to leave this city.
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时刻准备 always be ready; 曾经住过 once lived; 立刻答应 agree at once; 连忙道歉 promptly apologize; 始终坚持 persist throughout; 早已完成 finished long ago; 即将开始 about to start; 急忙出门 hurry out; 渐渐变冷 gradually turn cold; 尽快回复 reply as soon as possible; 早晚会明白 understand sooner or later.
Pitfall: 早晚 can mean sooner or later, not only morning and evening.
老是、通常、时常
Recurring tendencies
通常 gives a usual pattern; 时常 frequent occurrence; 老是 often adds an annoyed or insistent evaluation.
他老是忘记带钥匙。
He keeps forgetting his keys.
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Pitfall: 通常 is typically more neutral than complaining 老是.
尽量、亲自
Best efforts and personal involvement
尽量 asks for the greatest feasible effort, not a guarantee; 亲自 emphasizes doing something oneself.
经理亲自来接我们。
The manager came personally to meet us.
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Pitfall: 亲自 concerns personal involvement, not reciprocal action.
便、一旦
Prompt consequences
便 links a prompt following result in written narrative; 一旦 sets an activating condition.
收到消息后，他便出发了。
After receiving the news, he set off.
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Pitfall: 一旦 emphasizes activation of a condition, not simply any repeated action.
似乎、仿佛
Seeming and resemblance
似乎 hedges an inference; 仿佛 suggests seeming or a vivid resemblance, sometimes in imaginative description.
他似乎有点儿不高兴。
He seems a little unhappy.
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Pitfall: A seeming judgment is not an assertion of certainty.
反而
Stance and expectation
毕竟 invokes a relevant fact; 居然 surprise; 果然 confirmation; 反而 reversal; 反正 dismissal of alternatives; 根本/绝对 strengthen; 白 marks wasted effort; 刚好 a match.
我以为他会生气，他反而笑了。
I thought he would be angry, but instead he smiled.
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毕竟是孩子 invokes childhood as relevant; 居然忘了 marks surprise; 反正不去 dismisses alternatives; 根本不知道 denies at the root; 果然来了 confirms; 简直不敢相信 intensifies; 绝对不会 emphatically rejects; 的确很好 confirms; 反而笑了 reverses expectation; 白跑一趟 means a wasted trip; 刚好赶上 means just in time; 可别忘了 adds insistence.
Pitfall: 简直、的确 and emphatic 可 have different registers and strengths; do not merge all into really.
Source details (official syllabus)
Strong and excessive degree
- Syllabus item
- 过于、相当、较1、可2、格外、极其
- Category
- 程度副词
- Grammar ID
- grammar-L5-005
- PDF page
- 398 (printed 395)
Phases and urgency
- Syllabus item
- 时刻、曾经、立刻、连忙、始终、早已、即将、急忙、渐渐、尽快、早晚
- Category
- 时间副词
- Grammar ID
- grammar-L5-006
- PDF page
- 398 (printed 395)
Recurring tendencies
- Syllabus item
- 老是、通常、时常
- Category
- 频率副词
- Grammar ID
- grammar-L5-007
- PDF page
- 398 (printed 395)
Best efforts and personal involvement
- Syllabus item
- 尽量、亲自
- Category
- 方式副词
- Grammar ID
- grammar-L5-008
- PDF page
- 398 (printed 395)
Prompt consequences
- Syllabus item
- 便、一旦
- Category
- 关联副词
- Grammar ID
- grammar-L5-009
- PDF page
- 398 (printed 395)
Seeming and resemblance
- Syllabus item
- 似乎、仿佛
- Category
- 情态副词
- Grammar ID
- grammar-L5-010
- PDF page
- 398 (printed 395)
Stance and expectation
- Syllabus item
- 毕竟、居然、反正、根本、果然、简直、绝对、的确、反而、白、刚好、可3
- Category
- 语气副词
- Grammar ID
- grammar-L5-011
- PDF page
- 398 (printed 395)
- 1FILL BLANK
别担心。
Choose the expression that completes the sentence.
“Don't worry excessively.”
- 2FILL BLANK
我以为他会生气，他笑了。
Choose the expression that completes the sentence.
“I thought he would be angry, but instead he smiled.”
- 3MATCH
Tap a sentence, then tap its meaning.
Tap a sentence, then tap its meaning.
- 4CHOOSE
Which marks a result contrary to expectation?
- 5CHOOSE
大家以为他会生气，他反而笑了。
What expectation is reversed?
- 6ORDER
Tap the chunks to build the sentence.
“Don't worry excessively.”
Tap the chunks in order. - 7ORDER
Tap the chunks to build the sentence.
“He is about to leave this city.”
Tap the chunks in order.
0 of 7 tasks answered.
Next lesson: Evidence, routes and written connections →过于Strong and excessive degree
- 走到离路较远的地方，他又停下来，让我们看看叶子上的昆虫。 Should We Cut the Riverside Grass · HSK 5
即将Phases and urgency
- 那些曾经觉得难以忍受的孤独与挫折，如今都成了我人生中闪闪发光的财富。 Reflections on Studying Abroad · HSK 6
- 我按照平时的习惯，用礼貌的态度和清楚的语言回答问题，并且表示我愿意努力学习，尽快合格。 My Job Interview · HSK 4
- 每天下班后，我干脆独自在附近逛，希望尽快熟悉周围的环境。 Moving to a New City · HSK 5
尽量、亲自Best efforts and personal involvement
- 终于有一天，我再也忍不住了，决定亲自去找她，无论如何也要让她给我一个解释的机会。 I Misunderstood My Friend · HSK 5
便、一旦Prompt consequences
- 妈妈走进厨房，看了看我的“作品”，估计是看出了问题，便笑着说：“你太着急了，发面的时间不够。” I Learned to Make Baozi · HSK 5
- 那天我们聊了很久，我这才明白，朋友之间一旦有了疑问，就应该及时说清楚，而不是一个人胡乱猜测。 I Misunderstood My Friend · HSK 5
反而Stance and expectation
- 一位经常参加活动的老人听见了，说：“有的是游客扔的，也有的是从海上过来的。上个月这儿游客不多，下过大雨以后，垃圾反而多了。” Where Does the Garbage Come From · HSK 5