但是 or 但?

Good question, I've wondering that same thing...and also about 开 (kāi) and 开始 (kāishǐ).

Thanks. :)

You must have a cracking dictionary. :)

开车 can mean three things: Open the car ( Open the door of the car) Start the car ( Start the engine of the car) Drive the car

dennisliehappo -- Oops. You are right. Thanks for the clarification. bazza, calkins -- Sorry!

没问题Auntie！ You're allowed to be wrong once in every 721 posts :)

Let me supplement auntie68’s explanation. It is really a question of rhythm and euphony, and that might be why 但还是 is more commonly used than 但是还是. But please be noted that 但是 is more conversational than 但 is, and the former can be followed by a comma, but the latter not. For example, 这是我们的原则，但是，也有例外（但也有例外）。 These kinds of words, e.g. 虽然(虽) and 可是(可), are helpful and convenient for me when writing comments in Chinese, because I can easily adjust the number of characters in a line. Of course, as auntie said, they are not always interchangeable, and the usages of shorter forms are usually a little difficult (or advanced) than those of longer ones.

Hi bazza. According to my dictionary, 但／但是 do seem to be interchangeable. It's a question of rhythm, maybe euphony too, which one you go for. For one thing, there is a full definition for 但是 -- viz（连）表示转折，经常跟前半句的 “虽然“，“尽管“ 搭配使用). And the definition of 但 is... (ta-daahh!) （连） 但是。 However, 但 on its own does have an additional meaning which 但是 doesn't have, namely, "only". Part two of the definition for this character is: (副）只，只是。 I think this use of 但 is more advanced, not something that beginners are likely to use. The examples given were: 但愿他的病会好起来。 ＝ I only hope he will recover from his illness soon. The character "愿“ (yuan4) means "hope; wish; desire". 我们一路坐船来，但见两岸风光十分美好。 ＝ We (the entire journey) came by boat, all we could see was that the scenery on both shores was very nice. calkins, 开 is not an abbreviation of 开始，which is a compound word meaning "to start / begin/ commence". 开 is a very versatile character which works well on its own (eg. switch on or start or open etc), and also as one of those "high valency" characters which forms a lot of different compound words with other single characters. Worth a visit to your dictionary, if only to get a sense of just how versatile it is! Btw, do be careful with "开车", which is a notorious "false friend". 开车 is not starting your car, it means driving it. Eg. 他把新车开到我的家 = He drove the new car to my house. Stunt Toddler loves to say, "MK, let's 开汽车!“, meaning he wants me to join him in pushing his toy cars through imaginary roads and carparks making vroom-vroom noises...

但是 or 但 ? 是但 ! [ 是但, si6 daan6, (粵) anything goes, as one pleases ]

In Written Cantonese: 但是(daan6 si6;dan4 shi4) In Spoken Cantonese: 但係 (daan6 hai6; dan4 xi4) sebastian: 是但 in Cantonese could also mean soy sauce and a fried egg on rice.

但 seems to be used quite often in novels, at least it is in 《达·芬奇密码》quite I'm currently attempting to read.

I caught this. Sebastian -- that's so witty! I love Cantonese...

What if you want to say "...but it isn't.."? Would that be 但是不是 or 但不是?

hello bazza, i may not be the best reference to answer this... but i happened to study this expansion today...there is a sentence at 之一 examples using 但不是 http://chinesepod.com/lessons/future-goals/expansion

Here's an example: 我已變了但也來不及。(Wo3 yi3 bian4 le, dan4 ye3 lai2 bu ji2). I changed, but it's too late.