| Change log entry 96921 | |
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| Processed by: | richwarm (2026-08-06 08:13:22 UTC) |
| Comment: |
<< review queue entry 88766 - submitted by 'larryk78' >> 不 (bu4) is missing a sense for its role as the infix in V-不-C constructions (e.g. 打不开 "unable to open"). The parallel construction for "can" is already documented under 得[de5] ("structural particle: used after a verb... indicating effect, degree, possibility etc") - 不 plays the same grammatical role for the negative case but has no equivalent gloss. 看不见/听不懂 are existing entries that use this construction but don't document the general pattern itself. ---------------------- Editor: In V-不-C constructions (e.g. 看不见, 拿不动), 不 is still functioning as the ordinary negator ("not"); the meaning of inability ("cannot") arises from the construction as a whole, rather than from 不 itself. 得 can be analyzed as a "particle, which, together with a resultative complement, forms a potential complement" (Yuen Ren Chao). 不, however, is not functioning as a structural particle in V-不-C constructions; it simply contributes its usual meaning of "not". |
| Diff: |
# - 不 不 [[bu4]] /no; not so/(bound form) not; un-/ # + 不 不 [[bu4]] /no; not so/(bound form) not; un-/structural particle: used between verb and complement, meaning cannot (as in 看不見|看不见[kan4 bu5 jian4] "cannot see")/ |