Book 1: 《學而》 Xue Er (Studying)
《學而》 Passage 1.10
Legge Translation (1861)
Ziqin asked Zigong, saying: "When our master comes to any country, he does not fail to learn all about its government. Does he ask his information? or is it given to him?"Zigong said: "Our master is benign, upright, courteous, temperate, and complaisant, and thus he gets his information. The master's mode of asking information! — is it not different from that of other men?"
Word by word
- 子禽 zǐ qín
Ziqin, a disciple of Confucius
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 禽 Qin, courtesy-name element in 子禽, the courtesy name of Chen Kang (陳亢)
- 問 wèn
to ask, inquire
- 於 yú
preposition introducing the person addressed: to, of
After 問 it marks whom the question is put to; English 'ask someone' takes a bare object, so the preposition has nothing to correspond to.
- 子貢 zǐ gòng
Zigong, a disciple of Confucius
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 貢 Gong, courtesy-name element in 子貢, the courtesy name of Duanmu Ci (端木賜); his given name is 賜
- 曰 yuē
said, spoke
- 夫子 fū zǐ
the Master, Confucius
- 夫 honorific element, here opening the title for Confucius
- 子 honorific term for a master, here in the title for Confucius
- 至 zhì
to arrive, come to, go to
- 於 yú
preposition: at, in, to
- 是 shì
demonstrative marking an unspecified instance: this, a given, any
- 邦 bāng
state, country
- 也 yě
marks a pause after a fronted topic clause
It closes the 'whenever the Master reaches a state' clause before the main clause begins.
- 必 bì
surely, invariably, without fail
- 聞 wén
to hear about, learn of, be informed of
- 其 qí
possessive pronoun: its
- 政 zhèng
government, governance
- 求 qiú
to seek, ask for, request
- 之 zhī
object pronoun: it
Resumes 其政 as object of 求.
- 與 yú
interrogative final particle
- 抑 yì
or, marking an alternative in a choice question
- 與 yǔ
to give, grant, hand over
- 之 zhī
object pronoun: it, him
- 與 yú
interrogative final particle
Closes the second half of the alternative question. As with the first, English carries the force in inversion and punctuation rather than a word.
- 子貢 zǐ gòng
Zigong, a disciple of Confucius
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 貢 Gong, courtesy-name element in 子貢, the courtesy name of Duanmu Ci (端木賜); his given name is 賜
- 曰 yuē
said, replied
- 夫子 fū zǐ
the Master, Confucius
- 夫 honorific element, here opening the title for Confucius
- 子 honorific term for a master, here in the title for Confucius
- 溫 wēn
warm, gentle, mild-mannered
- 良 liáng
good, upright, kind
- 恭 gōng
respectful, reverent
- 儉 jiǎn
frugal, temperate, restrained
- 讓 ràng
yielding, deferential, ceding to others
- 以 yǐ
by means of, through, thereby
- 得 dé
to obtain, get, acquire
- 之 zhī
object pronoun: it
- 夫子 fū zǐ
the Master, Confucius
- 夫 honorific element, here opening the title for Confucius
- 子 honorific term for a master, here in the title for Confucius
- 之 zhī
possessive particle: 's, of
- 求 qiú
to seek, ask for
- 之也 zhī yě
object pronoun + clause-final particle: it (topic-marking pause)
- 之 object pronoun: it, referring to the information
- 也 clause-final particle marking a pause after the subject clause
- 其諸 qí zhū
perhaps, presumably
- 其 with 諸, forms a modal expression: perhaps, presumably
- 諸 with 其, forms a modal expression: perhaps, presumably
Translators split between reading 其諸 as tentative 'perhaps' (Ames & Rosemont, Lau) and folding the clause into a rhetorical question 'is it not...?' (Legge, Slingerland, Peimin Ni, Roberts) or a flat statement (Watson, Chin).
- 異 yì
different, to differ from
- 乎 hū
comparative particle after an adjective: than, from
- 人 rén
other people, others
- 之 zhī
possessive particle: 's, of
- 求 qiú
to seek, ask for
- 之 zhī
object pronoun: it
- 與 yú
interrogative final particle
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