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HSK 5 · VERSION 2.0#87

Expressing the Only Two Possibilities with “bú shì... jiù shì...”

不是……就是……

bú shì...jiù shì...

How it works

不是……就是…… (bú shì...jiù shì...) means “if not..., then...” or “either... or...” It presents two possible choices or outcomes and implies that one of them must be true.

The pattern

不是 (bú shì) + A, 就是 (jiù shì) + B

Example sentences

他最近不是在加班,就是在出差,几乎没有休息的时候。

Tā zuìjìn bú shì zài jiābān, jiù shì zài chūchāi, jīhū méiyǒu xiūxi de shíhou.

Recently he is either working overtime or on business trips; he hardly has any time to rest.

这件事如果不是你记错了,就是我听错了,总得有一个地方出了问题。

Zhè jiàn shì rúguǒ bú shì nǐ jì cuò le, jiù shì wǒ tīng cuò le, zǒng děi yǒu yí ge dìfang chū le wèntí.

If the problem is not that you remembered it incorrectly, then it must be that I heard it incorrectly. There must be some problem somewhere.

他不是对这个计划没信心,就是根本没认真考虑过。

Tā bú shì duì zhège jìhuà méi xìnxīn, jiù shì gēnběn méi rènzhēn kǎolǜ guo.

Either he has no confidence in this plan, or he simply has not seriously thought about it.

Key point

This pattern narrows the situation down to two main possibilities.

Source: HelloMandarin · Revised edition, 2026 · PDF p. 281.

Old_HSK_1-6_Grammar_Points_2.0.pdf

Old six-level teaching collection. This is an independent learning reference.

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