How to use 不是…就是
不是 + option A + 就是 + option B
不是…就是 presents two alternatives as covering the relevant possibilities. The speaker may be describing an uncertain identity, a repeated habit, or choices that seem limited to two outcomes. The wording can carry frustration when the same alternatives recur, but that attitude comes from context. It is a statement about the possibilities rather than a direct question asking someone to choose.
The two parts can contain nouns, verb phrases, or adjectives, provided they form a coherent pair. A shared subject often appears before 不是. Unlike a simple 或者 list, the construction emphasizes that the situation falls into one option or the other. The speaker's claim may be rhetorical rather than a formally exhaustive classification of every conceivable possibility.
Examples with pinyin and English
他整天不是打游戏就是睡觉。
If he's not playing video games all day, he's sleeping.
他们约会不是去咖啡馆就是去电影院。
When they go on dates, if it's not to a coffee shop, then it's to the movie theater.
我买的衣服不是大就是小，都不能穿。
The clothes that I bought are always either too big or too small. I can't wear any of them.
她穿的衣服不是 LV 就是 Gucci！
If the clothes that she wears aren't Louis Vuitton, then they're Gucci!
What to remember
- Keep the two alternatives grammatically compatible.
- Use the pattern for statements rather than choice questions.
- Recognize that repeated alternatives can imply frustration.
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Source and editorial notes
Explanation rewritten for Laowai. Examples are adapted from the Laowai English grammar curriculum, with editorial corrections where needed. The original curriculum credits AllSet Learning’s Chinese Grammar Wiki as used with permission. Read the retained source credits.
Difficulty labels describe the level of the explanation; they are not official HSK placement. Send a correction with this page’s URL.