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下去 (xià qù) — to go down, to descend; (complement after a verb) to continue (an action)

Definition

Two uses: (1) a verb meaning 'to go down, descend' — directional motion away from the speaker. (2) after another verb as a complement meaning the action continues downward or onward (e.g. 说下去 'keep talking').

verb
to go downto descend(complement after a verb) to continue (an action)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 下去。
    Wǒ men cóng zhè lǐ xià qù ba.
    Let's go down from here.
  • 下去。
    Qǐng shuō xià qù.
    Please continue speaking.
  • 下去。
    Qǐng dú xià qù.
    Please continue reading.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

下xiàdown
去qùgo away

下 gives downward motion and 去 points away from the speaker, yielding the sense of going down.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

下 is drawn as a short horizontal line below a long curved line.

Open 下 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

去 pairs 大, a man, with 口, a mouth or object. The evidence reads this as a man leaving a place, a man opening his mouth, or a cover over an object.

Open 去 →

Grammar

Appears in
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