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Is 不 A 不 B a grammatical structure like 又 A 又 B?

Chinese Language Asked on October 23, 2021

I ran across 不知不觉 the other day. If I use MDBG to look up c:不*不* I see there are many idioms with that format. Can I use it with any verbs (?) or is it only part of fixed expressions?

3 Answers

Is 不 A 不 B a grammatical structure like 又 A 又 B?

They are different. Most [不 A 不 B] terms are either idiom or four characters idiomatic phrase that you have to memorize individually.

The A and B in [又 A 又 B] can be a single character word, a compound word or even an entire phrase. e.g. 又高又瘦,又高又瘦削,又想高大又想瘦削

Below are the common [不 A 不 B] terms:

[A complement B ]

不慌不忙: (not panic, not hurry) stay calm

不聞不問: (not listening, not inquire) ignore

不知不覺: (not know, not feel) not notice

不經不覺: (not experience, not feel) not notice (of time passing)

不瞅不睬: (not looking, not pay attention) ignore

不明不白: (not understandable, not clear) unclear

不倫不類: (not any type or kind) ridiculous

不慍不火: (not angry, not enrage) calm; mild

不痛不癢: (not hurt, not itchy) insignificant attack/ lost

不飲不食: (not eat, not drink) not eat nor drink

不眠不休: (not sleep, not rest) tirelessly; relentlessly, persistently

不忠不孝: disloyal, not filial (no virtue)

不仁不義: unkind, unjust (no honor)

不過不失: (not considered a wrong doing, not considered a mistake) average/ mediocre

不折不扣: (no discount, no rebate) truly; definitely

不離不棄: (not leaving, not abandon) never abandon

不盡不實: (not detailed, not true) not telling the truth

不驕不躁: (not prideful, not irritated) stay calm and focused

不屈不撓: (not bending, not yielding) Never give up

不三不四: (not this, not that) dubious

不依不饒: (not agree with, not forgive) pestering/ not let things go

不聲不響: (Silent, not make a sound) silently/ be silent

[A contradict B ]

不卑不亢: (not too humble, not too excited) proper demeanor

不偏不倚: (not lend away , not lean onto) right on/ Objective (opinion)

不緩不迭: (not slow, not swift) steady normal pace

不男不女: (not a man, nor a woman) sex unknown

不上不下: (not up, not down) struct in the middle

不大不小: (not big, not small) the right size

不冷不熱: (not hot not cold) mild reception; right temperature

不高不低; (not high, not low) middle position (of rank or level)

不胖不瘦: (not fat, not thin) average body type

不咸不淡: (not salty not bland) unremarkable taste/ mediocre

[B until/ unless A]

不死不休: not stopping until one is dead

不吐不快: not happy until saying (something)

不時不食: do not eat unless it is in-season

不見不散: not leaving until we meet

I would update this list when I think up more.

Answered by Tang Ho on October 23, 2021

No, not with any verb, although you would see lots of idioms follow that pattern. You need to learn them separately.

Answered by dan on October 23, 2021

why not? see bkrs: II cons. 1) 不 A 不 B (where A B are paired synonyms): not A B 不慌不忙 unhurried 2) 不 A 不 B (where A B are antonymous stative verbs): neither A nor B 不大不小 neither (too) big nor (too) small 3) 不 A 不 B (where A B are antonymous verbs): no B without A 不破不立 no constructing without destroying cf. restrictions for 又 。。。又, see e.g. https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_%22both_A_and_B%22_with_%22you%22 bkrs:又.... 又… linking antonyms, often translated as neither... nor, 又不好, 又不坏 , 又不哭, 又不笑, [又]不是牛又不是马

Answered by user6065 on October 23, 2021

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