Book 16: 《季氏》 Ji Shi (The Ji Clan)
《季氏》 Passage 16.9
Legge Translation (1861)
Confucius said: "Those who are born with the possession of knowledge are the highest class of men. Those who learn, and so, readily, get possession of knowledge, are the next. Those who are dull and stupid, and yet compass the learning, are another class next to these. As to those who are dull and stupid and yet do not learn; — they are the lowest of the people."Word by word
- 孔子 kǒng zǐ
Confucius, Master Kong (proper name)
- 孔 surname element in 孔子, 'Confucius' (Master Kong)
- 子 honorific suffix: Master
- 曰 yuē
said, spoke
- 生 shēng
born, from birth
- 而 ér
conjunctive particle linking two clauses
- 知 zhī
to know, understand (it)
- 之 zhī
it (object pronoun referring to knowledge)
- 者 zhě
nominalizing particle: one who, those who
- 上 shàng
highest, best
first of the four ranked grades of knowing in this passage
- 也 yě
final particle of assertion: is, indeed
- 學 xué
to learn, study
- 而 ér
conjunctive particle: and, and then
- 知 zhī
to know, understand (it)
- 之 zhī
it (object pronoun referring to knowledge)
- 者 zhě
nominalizing particle: one who, those who
- 次 cì
next, second in rank
second grade of knowing
- 也 yě
final particle of assertion: is, indeed
- 困 kùn
beset by difficulty, hard-pressed
- 而 ér
contrastive conjunction: yet, but
- 學 xué
to study, learn
- 之 zhī
it (object pronoun referring to knowledge)
English lets the transitive verb ('study', 'persist in their studies') carry the implied object.
- 又 yòu
again, further, yet another degree
- 其次 qí cì
the next in order
- 其 that, the (demonstrative, part of 其次 'the next')
- 次 next, in sequence
third grade of knowing
- 也 yě
final particle of assertion: is, indeed
- 困 kùn
beset by difficulty, hard-pressed
- 而 ér
contrastive conjunction: and yet, but
- 不學 bù xué
fail to learn, do not study
- 不 not
- 學 to learn, study
- 民 mín
common people, the populace
- 斯 sī
resumptive particle: then, in that case
Only Peimin Ni supplies an explicit word ('such') for this particle; the other seven let sentence structure alone carry the resumption from 民 to the predicate.
- 為 wéi
to be, to count as
- 下 xià
lowest, bottom
fourth and lowest grade of knowing
- 矣 yǐ
final particle marking assertion of a completed state
English closes the sentence with ordinary punctuation.
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