# 了解 / 明白 / 懂



## Dymn

Hi everybody,

I'm still having problems distinguishing these three verbs, which could be roughly translated as "to understand" in English. For what I've gathered, they have the following nuances:

了解 - to understand thoroughly, to comprehend the ultimate meaning of sth
明白 - to see clearly, especially after it was explained
懂 - to understand (I haven't seen any nuance mentioned with this verb)

Am I on the right track? Do these nuances really apply or are they synonymous on the whole? If so, which is the most frequent option?

谢谢


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## philchinamusical

In my opinion, the differences among the three phrases are:

懂 is quite general, meaning "understand". You can use it almost everywhere. Like "听懂了" "看懂了" "我都懂" and "我不懂", meaning respectively "I heard (and understand)" "I see (and understand" "I understand all of it/them" and "I don't understand".
明白 is more colloquial but equivalent of 懂. So all four phrases in previous point can also be written as "听明白了" "看明白了" "我都明白" and "我不明白", with the exact same meanings. But it somehow is a little bit emotional as the two letters themselves are actually adjectives meaning "bright"(明) and "white"(白). Then the phrase creates an image that you shall see something as clear as you can see it in the broad daylight (then why don't you see it!?).

了解 *in mainland mandarin*, is a little formal than the other two. Besides, it also indicates an action of "getting to understand" or "finding out". For example, "经过一些调查之后，警方*了解*了初步的案发经过"(after some investigations, the police got a rough picture how the crime has been carried out". So 了解 is entirely the same as 懂.
Hope those helps.


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## SimonTsai

philchinamusical said:


> 明白 is more colloquial


In Taiwan, 懂 seems to be the most colloquial.


> but equivalent of 懂.


白天不懂夜的黑。
白天不明白夜的黑。


> Besides, it also indicates an action of "getting to understand" or "finding out".


I agree. And I prefer 暸解 over 了解:

瞭 (see) 解 (break down)​


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## fyl

明白 be clear on
了解 learn about
理解 understand

not sure how to translate 懂. It can be 明白 or 理解.


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## philchinamusical

SimonTsai said:


> 白天不明白夜的黑


This is not a proper case for you are changing LYRIC, which shall be judged with melody and rhythm. In plain speaking "白天不明白夜的黑" sounds fine to me. 



fyl said:


> 理解 understand


In fact there are other words including "掌握" "明了" which can be translated as "懂" "理解" "了解" as well.


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## SimonTsai

@philchinamusical, I suspect that sometimes 懂 could mean something that 明白 could not:

你不*懂*我。
你不*明白*我。
你不*瞭解*我。

你難道不*懂*我的心？
你難道不*明白*我的心？
你難道不*瞭解*我的心？

你說的，我都*懂*，可我偏要走偏，執迷不悟。
你說的，我*明瞭*，可我偏要走偏，執迷不悟。

這道理人人*懂*，可試問：有幾個做到？
這道理誰都*明瞭*，可試問：有誰做到？

Since I am not expert in linguistics, I will leave the job of contrasting words and expressions to someone else well read. (He will manage it, I am convinced.)


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## T.D

They do not make big difference as expressions of 'understand', but there could be something special.

e.g.
You can say 他是个明白人 or 他是个懂道理的人 (He is a reasonable/sensible person), but 他是个了解道理的人 is not used.
You can say 我来了解一下 (I will see to it), but not 我来明白一下 or 我来懂一下
You can say 互相了解 （Getting/being familiar with each other), but not 相互懂 or 相互明白


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## philchinamusical

@SimonTsai Honestly, in mainland mandarin, all the "懂" in your sentences in post #6 can be replaced with "明白" or "了解/暸解", even for the last two:
你说的，我*明白*，可我偏要走偏，执迷不悟。
这道理谁都*明白*，可试问有谁能做到？

I also googled and found 王杰, who is a Taiwan pop singer in 1980~1990's, had a song named "谁能*了解我的心*", when 林子祥 also had a song named "谁能明白我". I know as time goes by, the language can be quite different in 30~40 years, so perhaps people in Taiwan and Hong Kong nowadays don't speak or write in that way. But those two song titles look just fine in mainland Chinese.


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## Ghabi

Dymn said:


> Do these nuances really apply or are they synonymous on the whole?


The problem is, as you may expect, each of the words has more than one usage. So the three words, like three circles, overlap, but they don't coincide.

You can find contexts where:

1) All three words apply, but differ in terms of emotional nuances (我不了解/明白/懂你 "I don't understand you/I don't get you");
2) Only two of them apply (你不明白/了解情況 "You don't understand the situation");
3) Only one of them applies (他懂法語 "He knows French"; 他不懂游泳 "He can't swim").


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## SimonTsai

Am I right to think that there is a difference between 他不懂游泳 and 他不會游泳? (In the case of 游泳, usually I prefer the latter.)


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## T.D

SimonTsai said:


> Am I right to think that there is a difference between 他不懂游泳 and 他不會游泳? (In the case of 游泳, I prefer the latter.)



In this particular case, I don't think there is a difference. 

不会 is more commonly used when referring to a skill, in my opinion. (e.g. 我不会开车；我不会滑冰,etc）
不懂 is more commonly used when referring to a subject or concept. (e.g. 我不懂化学；我不懂相对论，etc）
Because 会 has an implication of ‘can do’，while 懂 only carries the meaning of 'understand' or 'know'.  
But there are exceptions when both of them are appropriate. (e.g. 我不会电脑=我不懂电脑）


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## philchinamusical

"不懂游泳" is really weird to me. I kinda agree with @T.D 's point that when it comes to some specific skills, "不会" is more commonly used.

However, we can still say "不懂*怎么*游泳" "不懂*怎么*开车".


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## SimonTsai

I guess that usually, 不會 is followed by a verb clause (as in 我不會打籃球) whereas 不懂 is followed by a noun (as in 我不懂機械) or noun clause (as in 我不懂：這長達 217 個字的英文長句，Henry James 究竟如何寫出？).


T.D said:


> 我不会电脑 = 我不懂电脑


For me, to be pedantic, 我會電腦 means that you know how to use it, whereas 我懂電腦 means that you know how it works.


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## retrogradedwithwind

A same question for English learners:

what are the differences among 
know understand get comprehend apprehend grasp ...

well I think you cannot explain that question, and nor do we.


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## Skatinginbc

I think 懂得 (as in 懂得憐香惜玉) is a compound composed of a pair of near synonyms:
懂 'get mental hold of, grasp/get mentally' + 得 'get'.

And I think 懂 (MC *_tung_) etymologically contains *_t_- 'grasp' (cf. Tangut _tə̣_ 'hold, grasp') + *_lung_ 'heart, mind' (懂, 从心; Sino-Tibetan *_lung_ 'heart').

What I am getting at is the "mind" (心) or mental prerequisite associated with 懂 'have a good grasp of something, have a clear understanding of something', wherein lies its difference from 會 'be capable of doing something' (e.g., 王語嫣懂武術, 但不會武術; 王博士懂游泳, 但不會游泳; 我會畫, 但不懂畫; 我會死, 但不懂死).

懂行 have a good grasp of the business
懂我的心 have a good grasp of my heart


SimonTsai said:


> 我懂電腦 means that you _know how_ it works.


It is reflected in 懂's possible cognates such as Proto-Chin *_thiam_ 'know-how', Lushai Chin _thǐam_ 'know, to know how to, to understand how to'.

Re: 了解
了解 = 了 'see clearly' (= 瞭; 《廣韻》目睛明也) + 解 'unravel, figure out'
不了解我 can't figure me out, can't come to understand my actions, motives, or personality.
了解情況 figure out the situation
不了解狀況 fail to figure out the situation, fail to see the situation


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## Broccolee

“明白”和”懂”可以互换。
“了解”是初步的“明白”。了解的近义词是“知道”。
希望能帮到你。


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