How to use 又(yòu) in Mandarin Chinese?

In our other post, we discussed how to use 再 (transcribed zài) to say “again.” Let’s discuss “again” again! In this post we will talk about the other “again” word, 又 (transcribed yòu), and figure out how these two differ.

In the post on 再 (transcribed zài), we encountered a boss who was angry again at an employee for being late again due to an alarm clock being broken (of course) again. Let’s review how 再 (transcribed zài) is used in the following two sentences from that dialogue.

So far so good, right? Now let’s look at these sentences:

Right now your internal Chinese-language alarm should be ringing, and you should be asking why “again” is expressed in these sentences not with our familiar friend 再 (transcribed zài), but with this new imposter 又 (transcribed yòu). Is something wrong here? If there isn’t (there isn’t), then what explains these two words? Can you look closely and try to figure out?

Keep reading to find out if you were right about how to use 又 (transcribed yòu)!

又 (transcribed yòu, meaning “again”) indicates that something has happened repeatedly in the past. Let’s think about this example listed above: 我的闹钟又坏了！ (transcribed wǒde nàozhōng yòu huài le, meaning “My alarm broke again!”). In this sentence, 又 is placed before the verb
坏 (transcribed huài, meaning “to be broken”) to indicate that your alarm had broken once (or more times) before, and now it broke again.

The phrase is
我的闹钟又坏 (transcribed wǒde nàozhōng yòu huài), but it is not yet a finished sentence. Because the action indicated in the sentence (又坏 (transcribed yòu huài, meaning “broke again”) is over, i.e. it has already happened, we must put the particle 了 (transcribed le) after the action to indicate a change of state / condition. (In this case, from not being broken to being broken). 了 (transcribed le) cannot be omitted.

又 is often used with the verb reduplication pattern verb + 了 (transcribed le) + verb to indicate that the same action happens in the past repeatedly. Please note that the verbs used here are often single-syllable verbs, such as 读 (transcribed dú, meaning “to read”), 看 (transcribed kàn, meaning “to look”), 想 (transcribed xiǎng, meaning “to think”), 听 (transcribed tīng, meaning “to listen”), 吃 (transcribed chī, meaning “to eat”), and so on. 又 (transcribed yòu, meaning “again”) and 再 (transcribed zài, meaning “again”) are not interchangeable.

So far, we have discussed how 又 is used to indicate the repetitions of an action in the past. But do you know that 又 can also be used to indicate a repetition of an action that will happen in the immediate coming future?

Usually, these repetitions are inevitable (It’s going to get dark soon again!) and are regular (It will be Monday again tomorrow!). Please note that in this pattern, the particle 了 (transcribed le) is added in the end of the sentence to indicate the change of state. 了 (transcribed le) cannot be omitted.

Before you read on, take your best shot at saying these two sentences aloud in Mandarin:

It’s going to get dark soon again.

It will be Monday again tomorrow.

You probably want to ask: since this pattern indicates repeated actions in the future, does it mean 又 can be substituted by 再 (transcribed zài, meaning “again”)? The answer is: NO! 再 does indicate actions that will happen again in the future, but these repetitions do not refer to actions that are inevitable.

Just as 再 (transcribed zài, meaning “again”) can be used in negative sentences— as in 他不再弹钢琴了 (meaning He won’t play the piano any longer)—, in the same manner, the negation words 不 (transcribed bù) or 没 (transcribed méi) can be used with 又 (transcribed yòu). Check our post about how to use 不 and 没.

Let’s look at this negative sentence:

If the action described in this sentence is repeated, namely if the same students are again absent from Chinese class, the word 又 is added to the sentence and it looks like this:

In this pattern, we don’t add the particle 了 (transcribed le) in the end of the sentence, because the action named in the sentence does not occur or indicate the change of state.

Again, 又 (transcribed yòu) and 再 (transcribed zài) are not interchangeable in this pattern. Let us look at some examples.

又 (transcribed yòu, meaning “again”) is mostly used to express repeated actions that happen in the past. It is also sometimes used to indicate something that will happen inevitably in the immediate future. Conversely, 再 (transcribed zài, meaning “again”) is used to express actions that will happen again in the future.