# 你可认真点儿读书



## Yuca007

大家好！

A clarification question: What is the implication of 可 in "你可认真点儿读书"? The conversation is about studying a lot to get into a top university.
My understanding of the phrase is something like "You need to work even harder" or or "hold on to studying even harder". Which one is correct, if any?

谢谢！


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## KCz

I guess the conversation might be,

A:How can I get into a top university?
B:You CAN study a bit harder. / You CAN TRY TO study harder.

which 可/可以 literally means CAN, 點兒/点儿 means A LITTLE BIT, and 認真/认真 means serious.


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## xiaolijie

Welcome to the forum, KCz! 

Personally, I don't think 可 in this sentence is from or similar to 可以. It is used just to add force to the advice, so I would translate it as "must": "You must put more serious work into your studies (if you want to get into a top university)"


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## FRee^ARouND

xiaolijie said:


> Welcome to the forum, KCz!
> 
> Personally, I don't think 可 in this sentence is from or similar to 可以. It is used just to add force to the advice, so I would translate it as "must": "You must put more serious work into your studies (if you want to get into a top university)"



"Must" was the first thing came to my mind, but "should" might be a better pick on the second thought.

The point is though, when you use 可 like that, it somehow contains very strong personal feelings/opinion from the speaker, and shows a very close/intimate relationship between the two people, which all translation mentioned above missed.


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## KCz

xiaolijie said:


> Welcome to the forum, KCz!
> 
> Personally, I don't think 可 in this sentence is from or similar to 可以. It is used just to add force to the advice, so I would translate it as "must": "You must put more serious work into your studies (if you want to get into a top university)"


Hi, I'm a newcomer from Hong Kong I think I've got another situation.

In this case, I would translate 可 to 那就要.

(那你就要用功讀書了) for the whole sentence

You've got to study harder then.

Sorry for the confusion


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## cblhxx

Yuca007 said:


> 大家好！
> 
> A clarification question: What is the implication of 可 in "你可认真点儿读书"? The conversation is about studying a lot to get into a top university.
> My understanding of the phrase is something like "You need to work even harder" or or "hold on to studying even harder". Which one is correct, if any?
> 
> 谢谢！



Hi
I'm a native speaker. This sentence is very strange to me, at least not authentic.
It cat least notould be:
"你可(要)认真读书(了)!" -- You need study hard!
"你可(不可以)认真点儿读书?" -- Could you study harder?

I would say:
"你得认真读书了!" -- 得(dei^3rd tone) means 要 but more informal.


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## BODYholic

Yuca007 said:


> A clarification question: What is the implication of 可 in "你可认真点儿读书"?



It's an emphatic particle. In your case, the 可 is short for "可(要)" or "可(得)".


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## zhg

My understanding is that 可 serves as a particle in a rhetorical question. I agree with what post#2 had said and interpret it as a short form for 可不可以，可以，能够. The speaker is not actually asking "can you/ are you physically able to..." but implying that he should work harder to prepare for the college entrance examination.
And I think that we might be over-translating the word 可 to "need" or "must" since 
1." Can you work harder on the test? "within the context suffices to convey both the idea and the implied command. 
2.the original sentence ends with a question mark ,which means the replacement with "need" "must"  doesn't work.

By the way the sentence sounds unnatural to my ears, at least not so commonly said in my neck of the woods, especially the use of 可, which leads me wondering if it is possible that it derives from northern china dialect? Do Northern Chinese speaker often do that?


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## xiaolijie

zhg said:
			
		

> 2.the original sentence ends with a question mark ,which means the replacement with "need" "must" doesn't work.


Where is the question mark?


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## SuperXW

I agree with xiaolijie, FreeAround and BodyHolic.
I think both cblhxx and zhg have misunderstood the question mark in the original post. 
The question mark is with the full sentence, not with the Chinese quote.
What is the implication of 可 in "你可认真点儿读书"?


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## zhg

Well, that only makes it even more confusing, If it means 可得 可要 , in my opinion, 
First it is "可"optional not  "可"or "要" that's the part where I feel unnatural of the sentence, at least in my area which I have mentioned above, and I was asking if someone can confirm it's natural sounding and is the correct usage in other parts of the China.
Second if it's indeed an statement ends with a period not a question mark nor an exclamation mark, (Actually Chinese has been read without punctuation long before its intoduction) then I doubt that it came from a native speaker provided that no mistake has been made in the quotation, so I'd like to wait OP to tell us more or perhaps check with the inscription again before we can continue our discussion.


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## SuperXW

zhg said:


> Well, that only makes it even more confusing, If it means 可得 可要 , in my opinion,
> First it is "可"optional not  "可"or "要" that's the part where I feel unnatural of the sentence, at least in my area which I have mentioned above, and I was asking if someone can confirm it's natural sounding and is the correct usage in other parts of the China.
> Second if it's indeed an statement ends with a period not a question mark nor an exclamation mark, (Actually Chinese has been read without punctuation long before its intoduction) then I doubt that it came from a native speaker provided that no mistake has been made in the quotation, so I'd like to wait OP to tell us more or perhaps check with the inscription again before we can continue our discussion.


I'm from Beijing and I can confirm it's absolutely natural and idiomatic there...
We colloquially say things like: 你可小心点！ 你可记住了！ 你可别去！ 你可慢着点走！


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## Yuca007

The phrase comes directly from a Chinese TV series with subtitles. It was stated there exactly the way I posted it.


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## zhg

I mean, can you give us some sentences before and after it, it matters a lot how we understand the sentence.


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## liliwangwang

it is similar to "have to" or "should". usually, it is combined with 得(dei)，as in 可得. 
you have to study harder to get into college.


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## theresagqp1986

I'm thinking of a context like this: 你可认真点儿读书，考不上大学，将来（可）怎么办？

In this context, the speaker tries to persuade the listener to work hard, because (the speaker believes) the listener's future depends on whether he will get into university. Note "你可认真点儿读书" does not entail that the listener is not working hard; it's just that the speaker believes only when you work hard you'll get into university.


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## kshang

In middle and north of China, and in your phrase condition,
可 means must. he is teaching you.
可 also can mean “very” there.
In south of China, 可 means "can you" sometimes.


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## Fuococuoco

你可真好！
这菜可真好吃！
她歌儿唱的可真好！
你可要好好谢谢她！

你可认真点儿读书！

这个可都表示强调，感叹。如果一定要找个英文来与之匹配，我觉得应该是 ＂really＂。


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## Henry1999

If you mean "You need to work even harder"(to get in university), the sentence would be 你"应该"认真点读书
可/可以 means "can"
"你可认真点儿读书" means "You can study harder/study seriously". 
It sounds like the object has ability to study better, but it doesn't show the goal that he/she studies for.


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## mandy156

As a matter of fact, this sentence just want to express that "you should work hard in school"


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## xiaolijie

Henry1999 said:


> If you mean "You need to work even harder"(to get in university), the sentence would be 你"应该"认真点读书
> 可/可以 means "can"
> "你可认真点儿读书" means "You can study harder/study seriously".
> It sounds like the object has ability to study better, but it doesn't show the goal that he/she studies for.


I think Henry should have read the previous replies before posting, or we'll just be going round in circle.


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