贵 in Context

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The Character You Just Learned is Also a Common Word!

Usage 1 - "expensive": 

Sentence：

这个手机价格很贵。

English:

The price of this cell phone is really high.

Top-Down Words:

价格 jiàgé - price

Sentence：

手机太贵了，我买不起。

English:

The cell phone is too expensive, I can’t afford it.

Top-Down Words:

买不起 mǎibuqǐ - to be unable to afford (infix construction)

*Sentence：

可能二十元左右，这些书都不太贵。

English:

These books are not too expensive, they are around twenty yuan.

Top-Down Words:

左右 zuǒyòu - roughly, approximately
都 dōu - all, every

Need a Reminder?

The Six Steps to Learning Words

Understanding Chinese Words - Morphemes

3 Questions About Words

Member Comments from 2019-mid-2020

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Kairi Shikari

regarding the phrase 可能二十元左右, I know that 左右 means 'about' but i'm not sure why 可能 is here, as the English translation doesn't seem to indicate its use.

Mandarin Blueprint

It's just an over-expression of uncertainty. *Maybe* (可能) 20元 *about* (左右). This is common in China because it leaves a 后路 (hòulù - back road/way out) out of a situation for the speaker so they don't get blamed if they're incorrect.

Kairi Shikari

Thanks, this is useful as I tend to do this in English too (add lots of extra words just in case!)

MB Team

Here's the link to where Phil and Luke talked about this comment in the Mandarin Blueprint Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYhgM_RlcP4&t=1977s