Definition
可 (kě) has two common uses: an adverb adding emphasis ('really, very') as in 可快了 'really fast', and a conjunction meaning 'but, however' as in 可不用功 'but doesn't work hard'. As an emphatic adverb, it differs from 多么 (duōme): 可 intensifies a statement, while 多么 heads pure exclamations like 多么漂亮 'how beautiful'. As a conjunction, it's a casual spoken alternative to 但是.
adverb
used for emphasis: reallycertainlyvery
conjunction
buthowever
Easily confused
- 呵hēlook-aliketo exhale, to breathe out (especially onto a surface)
- 克kèsound-alike(classifier) gram (unit of weight)
- 打dǎlook-aliketo hit, strike, beat
- 颗kēsound-alike(classifier) for small roundish objects such as pearls, grains, teeth, hearts, stars, satellites
- 钉dìnglook-aliketo nail, to pin, to staple (fasten by driving a pointed object)
- 课kèsound-alikeclass; lesson; subject; course
- 科kēsound-alike(noun) subject, discipline, field of study
- 棵kēsound-alike(classifier) for trees, cabbages, plants, and other growing vegetation
- 刻kèsound-alike(classifier) quarter (of an hour); a short moment
- 渴kěsound-alikethirsty
Examples
- 可。Tā pǎo de kě kuài le.He runs really fast.
- ，。Tā hěn cōngmíng, kě bú yònggōng.He is very smart, but he doesn't work hard.
- 。Wǒ kě bù xiǎng qù.I really don't want to go.
Grammar
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