Sentence pattern · Band 2
还是: this or that?
A 还是 B？
还是 is the or of a menu: tea or coffee, today or tomorrow, this one or that one. It lives inside questions, waiting for the listener to pick one. In plain statements Chinese is not offering choices, so 还是 clocks out; the statement or 或者 gets its own page later. Choosing out loud between options is always 还是 work.
Hear it in a sentence
Mistakes people make
还是 offers a choice and lives in questions; a plain list in a statement uses 也.
和 glues the two nouns onto one plate; a choice between them needs 还是.
Words in this pattern
Quick answers
What does 还是：选择问句 mean?
还是 is the or of a menu: tea or coffee, today or tomorrow, this one or that one. It lives inside questions, waiting for the listener to pick one. In plain statements Chinese is not offering choices, so 还是 clocks out; the statement or 或者 gets its own page later. Choosing out loud between options is always 还是 work.
How do you build it?
A 还是 B？
What is the most common mistake?
我喝茶还是咖啡。 → 我喝茶，也喝咖啡。
还是 offers a choice and lives in questions; a plain list in a statement uses 也.
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