者
Usages
2 distinct jobs 者 does in the Analects, each with examples from the text.
1One who (person)
Creates a noun referring to a person who performs an action: V者 = "one who Vs" or "those who V".
子曰：「有德者，必有言。有言者，不必有德。仁者，必有勇。勇者，不必有仁。」
The Master said: "The virtuous will be sure to speak correctly, but those whose speaking is correct may not be virtuous. The benevolent will be sure to be brave, but those who are brave may not be benevolent."
Legge 1861
仁者，必有勇
者 after a virtue names its possessor.
葉公問政。子曰：「近者說，遠者來。」
The Duke of She asked about government. The Master said: "Good government obtains, when those who are near are made happy, and those who are far off are attracted."
Legge 1861
近者說，遠者來
A matched pair: 近者 and 遠者.
子曰：「知者樂水，仁者樂山；知者動，仁者靜；知者樂，仁者壽。」
The Master said: "The wise find pleasure in water; the virtuous find pleasure in hills. The wise are active; the virtuous are tranquil. The wise are joyful; the virtuous are long-lived."
Legge 1861
知者樂水，仁者樂山
者 turns a quality into the person who has it.
有子曰：「其為人也孝弟，而好犯上者，鮮矣；不好犯上，而好作亂者，未之有也。君子務本，本立而道生。孝弟也者，其為仁之本與！」
The philosopher You said: "They are few who, being filial and fraternal, are fond of offending against their superiors. There have been none, who, not liking to offend against their superiors, have been fond of stirring up confusion. The superior man bends his attention to what is radical. That being established, all practical courses naturally grow up. Filial piety and fraternal submission! — are they not the root of all benevolent actions?"
Legge 1861
好犯上者，鮮矣
好犯上者 = one who likes to offend superiors
子曰：「我未見好仁者，惡不仁者。好仁者，無以尚之；惡不仁者，其為仁矣，不使不仁者加乎其身。有能一日用其力於仁矣乎？我未見力不足者。蓋有之矣，我未之見也。」
The Master said: "I have not seen a person who loved virtue, or one who hated what was not virtuous. He who loved virtue, would esteem nothing above it. He who hated what is not virtuous, would practice virtue in such a way that he would not allow anything that is not virtuous to approach his person. Is any one able for one day to apply his strength to virtue? I have not seen the case in which his strength would be insufficient. Should there possibly be any such case, I have not seen it."
Legge 1861
好仁者，無以尚之
好仁者 = one who loves benevolence
子曰：「知之者不如好之者，好之者不如樂之者。」
The Master said: "They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it."
Legge 1861
知之者不如好之者，好之者不如樂之者
Three parallel uses of 者 for "those who"
2That which (thing/concept)
Creates a noun referring to a thing or concept: 所V者 = "that which is V-ed".
子路、曾皙、冉有、公西華侍坐。子曰：「以吾一日長乎爾，毋吾以也。居則曰：「不吾知也！』如或知爾，則何以哉？」子路率爾而對曰：「千乘之國，攝乎大國之間，加之以師旅，因之以饑饉；由也為之，比及三年，可使有勇，且知方也。」夫子哂之。「求！爾何如？」對曰：「方六七十，如五六十，求也為之，比及三年，可使足民。如其禮樂，以俟君子。」「赤！爾何如？」對曰：「非曰能之，願學焉。宗廟之事，如會同，端章甫，願為小相焉。」「點！爾何如？」鼓瑟希，鏗爾，舍瑟而作。對曰：「異乎三子者之撰。」子曰：「何傷乎？亦各言其志也。」曰：「莫春者，春服既成。冠者五六人，童子六七人，浴乎沂，風乎舞雩，詠而歸。」夫子喟然歎曰：「吾與點也！」三子者出，曾皙後。曾皙曰：「夫三子者之言何如？」子曰：「亦各言其志也已矣。」曰：「夫子何哂由也？」曰：「為國以禮，其言不讓，是故哂之。」「唯求則非邦也與？」「安見方六七十如五六十而非邦也者？」「唯赤則非邦也與？」「宗廟會同，非諸侯而何？赤也為之小，孰能為之大？」
Zilu, Zeng Xi, Ran You, and Gongxi Hua were sitting by the Master. He said to them: "Though I am a day or so older than you, do not think of that. From day to day you are saying, 'We are not known.' If some ruler were to know you, what would you like to do?" Zilu hastily and lightly replied: "Suppose the case of a State of ten thousand chariots; let it be straitened between other large States; let it be suffering from invading armies; and to this let there be added a famine in corn and in all vegetables: — if I were entrusted with the government of it, in three years' time I could make the people to be bold, and to recognize the rules of righteous conduct." The Master smiled at him. Turning to Ran You, he said: "Qiu, what are your wishes?" Qiu replied: "Suppose a state of sixty or seventy li square, or one of fifty or sixty, and let me have the government of it; — in three years' time, I could make plenty to abound among the people. As to teaching them the rules of propriety and music, I must wait for the rise of a superior man to do that." "And what are your wishes, Chi?" said the Master to Gongxi Hua. Chi replied: "I do not say that my ability extends to these things, but I should like to learn them. At the services of the ancestral temple, and at the audiences of the princes with the emperor, I should like, dressed in the dark-colored cap and robes, to act as a small assistant." Last of all, the Master asked Zeng Xi: "Dian, what are your wishes?" Dian, pausing as he was playing on his lute, while it was yet twanging, laid the instrument aside, and rose. "My wishes," he said, "are different from the cherished purposes of these three gentlemen." "What harm is there in that?" said the Master; "do you also, as well as they, speak out your wishes." Dian then said: "In this, the last month of spring, with the dress of the season all complete, along with five or six young men who have assumed the cap, and six or seven boys, I would wash in the Yi, enjoy the breeze among the rain altars, and return home singing." The Master heaved a sigh and said: "I give my approval to Dian."
Legge 1861
莫春者，春服既成
者 marks a stretch of time as topic.
季康子問政於孔子。孔子對曰：「政者，正也。子帥以正，孰敢不正？」
Ji Kang asked Confucius about government. Confucius replied: "To govern means to rectify. If you lead on the people with correctness, who will dare not to be correct?"
Legge 1861
政者，正也
者 marks an abstraction, not a person.
子游問孝。子曰：「今之孝者，是謂能養。至於犬馬，皆能有養；不敬，何以別乎？」
Ziyou asked what filial piety was. The Master said: "The filial piety of now-a-days means the support of one's parents. But dogs and horses likewise are able to do something in the way of support; — without reverence, what is there to distinguish the one support given from the other?"
Legge 1861
今之孝者，是謂能養
今之孝者 = "that which is called filial piety today"
Combos
3 fixed patterns built on 者, with the role each plays and where to read them.
Marks definition or identification
9.18 子曰：「吾未見好德如好色者也。」
者 nominalizes; 也 confirms. "X者Y也" = "X is Y."
Questioning identification
15.14 子曰：「臧文仲其竊位者與？知柳下惠之賢，而不與立也。」
者 nominalizes; 與 (=歟) questions. "Is it that...?"
"one who …s it"
4.23 子曰：「以約失之者，鮮矣。」
之 is the object, 者 nominalises the whole. 6.20 stacks three of them to rank knowing, liking, and delighting in something.