Skip to content
Advanced Grammar Clinic HSK 5 Required 12 words

Choice, Commitment, and Alternatives

Practice advanced Chinese grammar patterns with a tight support-word list and targeted cloze demos.

Goal

Learners can recognize the linked grammar pattern, choose its key words, and write two original examples.

Write two new sentences with the grammar pattern, then swap one support word to change the nuance.

Focus

advanced grammar pattern practice support vocabulary

Useful examples

我宁可慢一点，也不放弃质量。

wǒ nìng kě màn yì diǎn, yě bù fàng qì zhì liàng.

I would rather be slower than give up quality.

他宁可自己吃亏，也不违反原则。

tā nìng kě zì jǐ chī kuī, yě bù wéi fǎn yuán zé.

He would rather take a loss himself than violate principle.

Preference with 宁可...也不

Use 宁可...也不 to express committed preference in advanced Chinese.

Open the grammar article

Practice sentences

他宁可自己吃亏，也不违反原则。

He would rather take a loss himself than violate principle.

Mark the accepted tradeoff.

这个要求不是建议，是非得做到的。

This requirement is not a suggestion; it must be met.

Mark the action as unavoidable.

这件事非他亲自出面不可。

He absolutely must appear personally for this matter.

Close the absolute-necessity frame.

他完成了任务以后，就回家了。

After he completed the task, he went home.

This word is the completed verb.

Try a few cards from this module

宁可
nìng kě
Meanings
preferably one would prefer to...(or not to...)

Module word list

Word Pinyin Meaning Dictionary
宁可 nìng kě preferably Dictionary
也不 yě bù still not; rather than Dictionary
放弃 fàng qì to renounce Dictionary
原则 yuán zé principle Dictionary
非得 fēi děi (followed by a verb phrase, then – optionally – 不可, or 不行 etc) must Dictionary
不可 bù kě cannot; should not; must not Dictionary
要求 yāo qiú to request Dictionary
完成 wán chéng to complete; to accomplish Dictionary
要么 yào me or Dictionary
选择 xuǎn zé to select Dictionary
方案 fāng àn plan Dictionary
决定 jué dìng to decide (to do something) Dictionary