《子罕》 Passage 9.12

the Master, Confucius

gravely ill, seriously sick

• 疾 to fall ill, become sick
• 病 gravely ill, seriously sick

Zilu, disciple of Confucius

• 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
• 路 element in the proper name Zilu

to cause, order, have (someone do something)

disciples, students

• 門 gate; a teacher's school or household
• 人 person, people

to act as, serve as

minister, retainer, attendant

during a remission of illness, when the illness abated

• 病 illness, sickness
• 閒 interval, gap; a lull or respite from illness

to say, said

a long time, long since

exclamatory-assertive particle combination: indeed!, how...!

• 矣 particle marking completed or ongoing state, giving assertive force
• 哉 exclamatory final particle: how...!, indeed!

矣 and 哉 stack for emphasis; several translators convey this through an intensifier ('how', 'indeed') or a tag question rather than a separate word for each particle.

You, Zilu's given name

genitive/subordinating particle: 's, of

Only Legge preserves the genitive relation explicitly with 'of'; the others recast the clause without a separate subject-marking word.

to practice deceit, act deceitfully

• 行 to practice, carry out
• 詐 deceit, trickery, fraud

final particle of assertion

to have no retainers, lack ministers

• 無 to lack, be without, have no
• 臣 minister, retainer, attendant

conjunctive particle: and yet, while

to act as if having retainers, pretend to have ministers

• 為 to act as, pretend to be
• 有 to have, possess
• 臣 minister, retainer, attendant

I, me

who, whom

to deceive, cheat, fool

to deceive, cheat, fool

Roberts and Chin leave the second verb elliptical ('Heaven?' alone), a natural English ellipsis rather than a fresh rendering.

Heaven

interrogative final particle

moreover, furthermore

I, me

rather than..., comparative frame introducing the less-preferred option

• 與 comparative conjunction: than, rather than
• 其 pronoun: that, those, marking the disfavored option in a comparison
• 也 final particle marking the end of a subordinate clause

與其...也 sets up the first half of the classical comparative construction 與其...無寧...乎, 'rather than X, wouldn't Y be better?'

to die

in, at, by

minister, retainer, attendant

genitive particle: 's, of

hand, hands (fig. care, charge)

wouldn't it be better to...?, rhetorical preference frame

• 無 pleonastic prefix in 無寧, adding nothing to 寧 (rather)
• 寧 rather, preferably; expressing preference in a rhetorical question
• 乎 interrogative final particle

無寧...乎 is the second half of the comparative construction, and its interrogative force is absorbed into the English modal ('would I not rather', 'isn't it better') rather than marked by a separate word for 乎.

to die

in, at, by

you, my disciples

• 二 two
• 三 three
• 子 term of address for a young man or disciple: sir, you

genitive particle: 's, of

hand, hands (fig. care, charge)

moreover, furthermore

I, me

even if, although

not

to get, obtain, be entitled to

grand funeral, elaborate state burial

• 大 great, grand
• 葬 burial, funeral

Chin renders 大葬 as 'a minister's burial', foregrounding the ritual-rank implication rather than the scale of the ceremony.

I, me

to die

on, by, at

road, roadside, wayside

• 道 road, way
• 路 road, path

interrogative final particle

Only Watson supplies an explicit tag question ('is it?') for this final particle; the others render the sentence as a plain question mark or a flat statement.