子曰。學而時習之、不亦說乎。 (Analects 1:1)

Note: The construction (Y) 不亦 (X) 乎 means, “isn’t Y X?”, or, more wistfully, “Y … isn’t it X?”

子曰。
學而時習之、不亦說乎。
有朋自遠方來、不亦樂乎。
人不知而不慍、不亦君子乎。

The Master said,
“Learning, and then frequently practicing, isn’t it a pleasure?”
“To have one’s friends visit from afar, isn’t it a joy?”
“To be unknown without resentment, isn’t this [the sign of] a person of great virtue?”




學 = xué = learn; study; emulate, immitate, model oneself upon
而 = ér = “and then”; occurs btwn two verbal phrases, indicating that the action of the second occurs under the circumstances of the first
時 = shí = time, when
時習 = review periodically (frequently)
習 = xí = to practice, exercise, review, study
之 = zhī = direct object pronoun: her, him, it, them, this, that, these, those; possessive particle

不 = bù = not
亦 = yì = also
說 = shuō = pleasing, satisfying,
乎 = question particle

有 = yǒu = have
朋 = péng = friend
自 = zì = one’s own
遠 = yuǎn = distant, remote
方 = fāng = upright, honest
來 = lái = to come, arrive



樂 = yuè = happy, joy, delight


人 = rén = person

知 = zhī = know
而 =

慍 = yùn = to be angry, resentful



君 = jūn = ruler, lord, monarch; gentleman
子 = zǐ = master, teacher

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *