之乎者也

zhīhū-zhěyě

idiom

Meanings

1 lit. zhī, hū, zhě, yě - four common Classical Chinese particles
2 archaic/pedantic talk; bookish jargon

Characters

(classical possessive/object particle)

(classical question particle)

(classical nominalizer)

(classical sentence-final particle)

Examples

HSK 4

现代演讲不必满口之乎者也。

Xiàndài yǎnjiǎng bùbì mǎn kǒu zhīhūzhěyě.

There's no need to lard a modern speech with classical particles.

HSK 7-9

他一开口就之乎者也，让人听不懂。

Tā yì kāikǒu jiù zhīhūzhěyě, ràng rén tīngbùdǒng.

The moment he opens his mouth it's all archaic jargon - no one can follow him.

Tips

history

Recorded in the Song-dynasty work 《湘山野录》 by Wen Ying: 之乎者也，助得甚事？ ('What good are zhi-hu-zhe-ye?') Reportedly mocking a scholar's love of classical filler, a quip that has stuck for nearly a thousand years.

memory

All four characters (之、乎、者、也) are real, working particles in Classical Chinese; strung together they signal 'listen to this guy talking like a Han-dynasty scholar.' Lu Xun's Kong Yiji (孔乙己) is the iconic literary user.

Stroke Order

之 zhī

乎 hū

者 zhě

也 yě