官司

guānsi
noun HSK 6 #3,876

Measure Word

官司 chǎng

Meanings

  1. 1 lawsuit; legal case
  2. 2 litigation

Characters

An official matter to be managed — a lawsuit handled by the courts.

Examples

Tāmen dǎ le yī chǎng guān si.
They fought a lawsuit.
Zhè chǎng guān si chíxù le sān nián.
This lawsuit lasted three years.
Tā yīnwèi hétóng jiūfēn gēn gōngsī dǎ guān si.
She sued the company over a contract dispute.
Dǎ guān si hěn fèi shíjiān hé jīnqián.
Lawsuits are very costly in time and money.

Tips

usage
The key collocation is 打官司 (dǎ guān si) — literally 'fight a lawsuit.' This is the standard way to say 'to sue' or 'to go to court' in Chinese.
usage
Think of (officials) running the (department) — when you have a dispute, you take it to the officials' department: court.

Stroke Order

guān