还是 (hái shì) means 'or'
and 或者 (huò zhe) also means 'or'
What's the difference?
Everyday Easy Chinese
Hi everyone, I am Teacher Lin from Everyday Easy Chinese.
And welcome to the third episode of our seven day series
What's the difference?
Where we answer common questions from you guys.
In this lesson we will look at the difference between 还是 (hái shì) and 或者 (huò zhe)
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Let's start!
So, let's start by looking at 还是 (hái shì)
So, 还是 (hái shì) has a lot of meanings but today we would just be looking at the 'or' meaning.
So, if you are trying to give someone an option, if you are trying to ask them for an option.
Then you can use this sentence structure
subject
verb
option A
还是 (hái shì)
option B
So, let's put this in to practice so you know how to use this.
So, there are alot of tea drinkers and also coffee drinkers aswell
So, you can ask them 你要喝茶还是咖啡 (nǐ yào hē chá háishì kāfēi)
你要喝茶还是咖啡 (nǐ yào hē chá háishì kāfēi)
So, as you can see here we have 你(nǐ) which is the subject
要喝 (yào hē)
'Do you want to drink' that is an action word
Option A is 茶 (chá) which means 'tea'
还是 (háishì) so, 还是 (háishì) is 'or' here.
And then option B 咖啡 (kāfēi)
Let's use another example.
So, I ask this one a lot.
你要吃辣的还是不辣的 (nǐ yào chī là de háishì bù là de)
So, 'do you want to eat spicy 辣的 (là de), 还是 (háishì) means 'or'
不辣的 (bù là de). 'Do you want to eat spicy or non-spicy.
So, remember 还是 (háishì) can only be used in questions and not statements.
So, let's look at 或者 (huò zhe).
As you can guess 或者 (huò zhe) differs from 还是 (háishì) because it is used in statements
rather than questions.
So let's practice this in real life examples.
So, for example if your friend is asking you
which day of the weekend you can hang out on
you can reply by saying 星期六或者星期天都可以 (xīngqíliù huò zhe xīngqítiān dōu kěyǐ)
星期六或者星期天都可以 (xīngqíliù huò zhe xīngqítiān dōu kěyǐ)
Which means 'Saturday' 星期六 (xīngqíliù)
或者 (huò zhe) 'or'
星期天 (xīngqítiān), 'Sunday'
都可以 (dōu kěyǐ)) 'are both okay'
Let's try another example.
So, say if your friend is asking you, 'how can we travel to Shanghai?'
You can reply by saying
我们可以坐飞机或者坐高铁去上海 (wǒmen kěyǐ zuò fēijī huò zhe zuò gāo tiě qù Shànghǎi)
我们可以坐飞 (wǒmen kěyǐ zuò fēijī), 'we can take the plane'
或者 (huò zhe) 'or'
坐高铁 (zuò gāo tiě), 'take the high speed train'
去上海 (qù Shànghǎi), 'to go to Shanghai'
So, that's it for episode three of our 'What's the difference?' series.
Where you learn the difference between 或者 (huò zhe) and 还是 (hái shì)
还是 (hái shì) being able to be used in questions
and 或者 (huò zhe), meaning 'or' but being used in statements.
Before you go remember to like this video if you found it helpful
and leave us any QUESTIONS or COMMENTS that you have in the comments box below
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so, you can see our next episode tomorrow.
Where we will be looking at the difference between 想 (xiǎng) and 要 (yào).
See you again tomorrow!