16.3 The Adverb 不如 bat1 jyu4 (‘why not’) and the Sentence Particle 吖 aa1 I (Suggestion)

The adverb 不如 bat1 jyu4 is similar to why not in English (as in Why don’t we have dinner together next week?). We can use 不如 bat1 jyu4 to suggest doing an activity. In this lesson, we will use 不如 bat1 jyu4 to invite someone to do something. We can put 不如 bat1 jyu4 before the subject.

When using 不如 bat1 jyu4, we often add the sentence particle 吖 aa1, which is also used to form suggestions.

We can use 吖 aa1 alone without 不如 bat1 jyu4, but the suggestion will become slightly stronger than when 不如 bat1 jyu4 is added.

When using 不如 bat1 jyu4 without 吖 aa1, we often apply rising intonation to form a question. The suggestion will be slightly softer than when 吖 aa1 is added.

Notice the sentence particle 吖 aa1 covered in this lesson and the sentence particle 呀 aa3 covered in previous lessons are different in their tone. We say 吖 aa1 with the high level tone and 呀 aa3 with the mid level tone.