是非曲直

shìfēi-qūzhí

idiom #47,877

Meanings

法官要分清是非曲直。

Fǎguān yào fēnqīng shìfēiqūzhí.

A judge must distinguish right from wrong.

不了解情况,就别评论是非曲直。

Bù liǎojiě qíngkuàng, jiù bié pínglùn shìfēiqūzhí.

Without knowing the situation, don't judge the merits of the case.

这件事的是非曲直,总有一天会大白。

Zhè jiàn shì de shìfēiqūzhí, zǒng yǒu yì tiān huì dàbái.

The truth of this matter will come out one day.

memory

Four clean binaries: 是 (right) 非 (wrong) 曲 (crooked) 直 (straight). Two pairs of opposites stacked — a ledger of rights and wrongs.

grammar

Functions as a noun phrase: 分清~, 辨明~, 评论~. Doesn't work as an adjective or predicate.

是 shì

非 fēi

曲 qǔ

直 zhí