# 还是 / 或



## Dawei

[还是 / 或]
What is the difference between the two? Are there any other translations for the English word "or?"


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## On Retrouve a Paris

I would say 还是is more colloquial, while 或(or 或是, 或者) are used both colloquially and literally.
'or' can tranlate well both '还是'and '或', either...or... is good too.

Eg. You can choose either beef or chicken in this restaurant, both are cooked excellently.
在这家餐厅, 你可以选择牛肉或(或是,或者) 鸡肉, 这家餐厅这两种肉都做得很好.

Hope it helps


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## Dawei

Thank  you


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## Mugi

还是 and 或(者) are fundamentally different.

还是 is "exclusive" - it's used in questions, to determine _either_ A _or_ B _only_.
或(者) is "inclusive" - it's used in statements, to state that A _or _B are _both _acceptable.

Hence, in the example given in the second post, you cannot use 还是.

Statement: 你可以选择牛肉或(者)鸡肉 - You can choose either beef or chicken (both are available and either choice is acceptable)

Question: 你想吃牛肉还是鸡肉? - Do you want to eat beef or chicken? (The questioner wants the listener to choose only one of the two)
Needless to say, you cannot use 或(者) in this example.

The two terms are mutually exclusive.


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## On Retrouve a Paris

Question: 你想吃牛肉还是鸡肉? - Do you want to eat beef or chicken? (The questioner wants the listener to choose only one of the two)
Needless to say, you cannot use 或(者) in this example.

I should correct you here that, we can say 你想吃牛肉或(或者，或是)鸡肉 here. It definitely sounds right and understandable for most of the local madarin-speaker.


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## Mugi

On Retrouve a Paris said:


> I should correct you here that, we can say 你想吃牛肉或(或者，或是)鸡肉 here. It definitely sounds right and understandable for most of the local madarin-speaker.


I don't mean to be rude, but how old are you and what part of China are you from? Some (Mandarin) dialects may allow your usage, but this is not standard Chinese usage. 
Being interested in language divergence, I am genuinely curious as to your background (i.e. where you grew up, the language environment you were in.)


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## Kwunlam

Mugi said:


> 还是 and 或(者) are fundamentally different.
> 
> 还是 is "exclusive" - it's used in questions, to determine _either_ A _or_ B _only_.
> 或(者) is "inclusive" - it's used in statements, to state that A _or _B are _both _acceptable.
> 
> Hence, in the example given in the second post, you cannot use 还是.
> 
> Statement: 你可以选择牛肉或(者)鸡肉 - You can choose either beef or chicken (both are available and either choice is acceptable)
> 
> Question: 你想吃牛肉还是鸡肉? - Do you want to eat beef or chicken? (The questioner wants the listener to choose only one of the two)
> Needless to say, you cannot use 或(者) in this example.
> 
> The two terms are mutually exclusive.


 
I am a bit reserved about the clarity and distinctness of the socalled exlusiveness in the actual practice of the Chinese language. You are not wrong in emphasising the element of exclusiveness. But I just doubt that the distinction is so absolute that every Chinese people will be conscious about it and we cannot find any counterexamples.


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## kkmp

Mugi offered the right examples and the right explanation.

There are other situations where 还是 and 或者 are different:

1. Fixed combinations leading parallel sentences:
(是)...还是...
不管（不论，无论)...还是...

2. 还是 has an additional meaning of "still be".
Eg: 小布什还是美国总统。
GW Bush is still the president of the US.


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## Mugi

In addition to kkmp's helpful additions, one more point I neglected to make was that 或者 can in fact come in the form of a question, but only in a "yes or no" question, not an "A or B" type question requiring the listener to choose one or the other.

E.g. 你去过德国或者法国吗?
Have you been to Germany or France before?



> I am a bit reserved about the clarity and distinctness of the socalled exlusiveness in the actual practice of the Chinese language. You are not wrong in emphasising the element of exclusiveness. But I just doubt that the distinction is so absolute that every Chinese people will be conscious about it and we cannot find any counterexamples.


I would be interested in any 'counter examples' you may be able to find. I suspect that any usage along the lines of "你想吃牛肉或者鸡肉?" is limited to non-native Mandarin speaking areas, or is simply "bad grammar" in the same way that some native English speakers may say "the number of Internet users _are_ increasing" when of course the auxiliary verb should agree with "number" and be "_is_". That fact that some people may say "are" in this situation doesn't make it correct.


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## samanthalee

I'm not sure whether it's a distinction between Northern and Southern Chinese, but I find myself partially agreeing with *On Retrouve a Paris* and *Kwunlam*.
For me the following sounds right too:
你想吃牛肉或(或是)鸡肉?
However, I draw the line on:
你想吃牛肉或者鸡肉 ?



kkmp said:


> 1. Fixed combinations leading parallel sentences:
> (是)...还是...
> 不管（不论，无论)...还是...


 
I believe that
(是)...或是...
不管（不论，无论)...或是...
are also correct.

It seems to me that "还是", "或" and "或是" are interchangable. However, "或者" is a different matter.



Mugi said:


> E.g. 你去过德国或者法国吗?
> Have you been to Germany or France before?


 
For this example, "或" and "或者" are interchangable. But "还是" and "或是" cannot be used here.


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## kkmp

samanthalee said:


> I believe that
> (是)...或是...
> 不管（不论，无论)...或是...
> are also correct.



Just did a Google search within the Chinese domain.

Search "无论 还是“ and I got 13,900,000 hits.
Search "无论 或者“ and I got  8,290,000 hits.
Search "无论 或是“ and I got  4,080,000 hits.

The statistics above indicates that "无论 还是“ is the dominant combination of the three. Speaking of standard Chinese, I would not say the other two are wrong. But I would recommand "无论 还是“ rather than "无论 或者(是)“ to non-native speakers.


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## kenny4528

> 你想吃牛肉或者鸡肉 ?


 
In here, no matter you say 你想吃牛肉或者鸡肉 or 你想吃牛肉或是鸡肉 ?, are quite understandable and colloquial.

PS.不管是否其為正確文法, 這兩句聽起來就是 ''口語會用的文法''


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## LikeBarleyBending

To me, 你想吃牛肉或鸡肉？is not good though it is absolutely understandable. I never use it and never heard anyone say in this way.


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## kenny4528

LikeBarleyBending said:


> To me, 你想吃牛肉或鸡肉？is not good though it is absolutely understandable. I never use it and never heard anyone say in this way.


 
I am curious how do you say it in your way?


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## LikeBarleyBending

Of course 你想吃牛肉还是鸡肉？


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## kenny4528

你想吃牛肉还是鸡肉
你想吃牛肉或者鸡肉
你想吃牛肉或是鸡肉
.....I cannot tell which one is used more commonly; they all sound fine and colloquial in this context.


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## e.ma

我還是... : I'd rather...


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## Mugi

It might be helpful if some of the native Chinese-speaking posters stipulated where exactly they are from (if it isn't listed on their profile).

As for 无论...还是/或者, Googling a set phrase (enclosing in quotation marks) as opposed to the various words freely, I get the following results:

"无论个人还是" 21,400 hits
"无论个人或者" 1,210 hits

"無論個人還是" 858 hits
"無論個人或者" 121 hits

"不论个人还是" 3,380 hits
"不论个人或者" 68 hits

"不論個人還是" 135 hits
"不論個人或者" 9 hits


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## samanthalee

Mugi said:


> It might be helpful if some of the native Chinese-speaking posters stipulated where exactly they are from (if it isn't listed on their profile).


Most Singaporeans' ancestors were from Southern China, so I guess you can classify me with the Southern Chinese.

I thought there are actually 4 different forms under discussion: 还是, 或, 或是, 或者. To expand on Mugi's list of Google web search hits,

*还是*
"无论个人还是" 21,400 Google hits; 3,630 Baidu hits
"無論個人還是" 858 Google hits; 47 Baidu hits
"不论个人还是" 3,380 Google hits; 1,930 Baidu hits
"不論個人還是" 135 Google hits; 22 Baidu hits

*或 (excluding ** 或是 and **或者)*
"无论个人或" 5,920 Google hits; 996 Baidu hits
  "無論個人或" 1,260 Google hits; 91 Baidu hits
  "不论个人或" 3,560 Google hits; 812 Baidu hits
  "不論個人或" 1,370 Google hits; 1,230 Baidu hits

* 或是*
"无论个人或是" 3,300 Google hits; 96 Baidu hits
  "無論個人或是" 426 Google hits; 3 Baidu hits
  "不论个人或是" 1,290 Google hits; 38 Baidu hits
  "不論個人或是" 300 Google hits; 16 Baidu hits

*或者*
"无论个人或者" 1,210 Google hits; 65 Baidu hits
 "無論個人或者" 121 Google hits; 1 Baidu hits
 "不论个人或者" 68 Google hits;  18 Baidu hits
 "不論個人或者" 9 Google hits;  1 Baidu hits
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"无论个人还是" wins hands-down. However, the notion that the argument is caused by regional difference seems to find support here. Those written in traditional characters （which can be assumed to originate from Taiwan or Hong Kong) seem to prefer using "或" over "还是".

"或者", as I've commented earlier is never interchangeable with "还是", so it is no surprise to me that the number of results it yields is so small.

By the way, the trend using Baidu to do the search agrees with that using Google.


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## kenny4528

Regional difference is king.


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