Book 4: 《里仁》 Li Ren (Dwelling in Ren)
《里仁》 Passage 4.21
子曰：「父母之年，不可不知也。一則以喜，一則以懼。」
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "The years of parents may by no means not be kept in the memory, as an occasion at once for joy and for fear."Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, i.e. Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke
- 父母 fù mǔ
father and mother, parents
- 父 father
- 母 mother
- 之 zhī
possessive particle: 's, of
- 年 nián
age, years
- 不可不…也 bù kě bù … yě
double negative construction expressing strong obligation: cannot not, must necessarily
- 不 not, negates the following word
- 可 can, may, to be permissible
- 不 not, negates the following word
- 也 final particle marking emphatic assertion
也 closes the clause with emphatic force.
- 知 zhī
to know, be aware of, be mindful of
- 一則 yī zé
on the one hand, for one thing
- 一 one; marks the first of two paired points
- 則 conjunction linking parallel clauses: then, in that case
- 以 yǐ
particle marking cause: a cause for, a source of
- 喜 xǐ
joy, gladness, rejoicing
- 一則 yī zé
on the other hand, for another
- 一 one; marks the second of two paired points
- 則 conjunction linking parallel clauses: then, in that case
- 以 yǐ
particle marking cause: a cause for, a source of
- 懼 jù
fear, anxiety, apprehension
A text file for Anki 2.1.55 or later: File → Import. The cards go to the deck “Analects”, tagged by passage, and importing again updates them instead of adding copies.
Discussion
No one has started on this passage yet.
Start the discussion in r/analects