一下子

yīxiàzi

adverb HSK 5 #4,858

Meanings

Literally 'in one go' — emphasizes suddenness or speed

Tā yīxiàzi jiù míngbai le.

He understood all at once.

Tiānqì yīxiàzi biàn lěng le.

The weather suddenly turned cold.

Wǒ yīxiàzi jì bú zhù zhème duō dāncí.

I can't remember so many words all at once.

usage

一下子 emphasizes that something happens suddenly or all at once. Compare with 一下 (yīxià), which means 'briefly' or 'a little' and is much softer.

mistakes

Don't confuse 一下子 (suddenly, all at once) with 一下 (a bit, briefly). 看一下 = take a quick look; 一下子看完 = finished reading all at once.

一 yī

下 xià

子 zǐ