A friend asks what you think of a new restaurant — the prices are low and the food is great. In English you'd say "both cheap and delicious" without thinking twice. In Mandarin, that kind of dual description uses 既...又 (jì...yòu), a formal pattern that links two qualities in a single sentence.
The structure is straightforward: place 既 before the first quality and 又 before the second. The key example is:
这家餐厅既便宜又好吃 (zhè jiā cāntīng jì piányi yòu hǎochī) — This restaurant is both cheap and delicious.
One important rule: never insert 很 (hěn) inside this pattern. Let 既 and 又 carry the connection on their own. The result sounds richer and more natural than stating two qualities separately.
This HSK 4 speaking lesson focuses on one grammar pattern and takes about 10 minutes. You talk out loud with AI teacher Mei Lin, who corrects your grammar and pronunciation in the flow of conversation and adapts to your level. You'll describe people, places, and things by highlighting two qualities at once — the kind of construction that makes everyday Chinese sound fluent rather than halting.
Mei Lin guides you to produce the pattern spontaneously, not just read examples. By the end, you can build sentences like the one above in real-time speech.
You can try the first lesson free. For more grammar at this level, visit the HSK 4 lessons hub page. You might also enjoy another HSK 4 live lesson on 尽管 (jǐnguǎn) or a lesson on 难道 (nándào) for expressing disbelief. To reinforce characters, try the free printable Chinese worksheet generator.
It means "both...and" and is used for formal dual descriptions. You place 既 before the first quality and 又 before the second, as in 这家餐厅既便宜又好吃 (This restaurant is both cheap and delicious). It lets you describe something with two adjectives in one smooth sentence.
No — you should never add 很 (hěn) inside this pattern. The structure is simply 既 + A + 又 + B, with no degree adverb in between. Adding 很 makes the sentence sound unnatural to native speakers.
You speak out loud with Mei Lin for about 10 minutes, describing people, places, and things using two qualities at once. Mei Lin corrects you in conversation and adapts to your level, so you practice forming dual descriptions spontaneously rather than memorizing rules.
This is an HSK 4 grammar lesson focused on the 既...又 (jì...yòu) pattern. Mei Lin adapts to your level during the conversation, and you can explore more patterns at this level on the HSK 4 lessons hub page.